Word of the Day: Acts 4:1-6:15
“In this name” Acts 5:28
I admit that much of today’s reading felt like a haze. But through that haze a pattern began to emerge. A name.
The Sadducees were “greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.” Acts 4:2
“let it be known to all of you and all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead by him this man is standing before you well.” Acts 4:10
“This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.” Acts 4:11
“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12
“But in order that it may spread no farther among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.” Acts 4:17
I could go on and on, but just by this short passage it is evident that there is tremendous power in the name of Jesus of Nazareth! Power that filled the Sadducees with jealous fear and the disciples with power and boldness through His Holy Spirit. There is power in the name of Jesus because it speaks of the person of Jesus, in whom all power resides. When we have Jesus, we have everything we need. He is the cornerstone the builders rejected. Will you reject him today? Will I? I almost did. But “if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, nothing will be able to overthrow it.” Acts 5:38-39
As unfaithful as I have already fully proven myself to be, God still won’t let me fail. You know why? Because of you. Because He cares about you. And it’s my job to remind (myself and) you every day how much He loves you. He loves you enough to send you power and strength through a simple name – JESUS! A name that saves to the fullest and most extreme extent. A name above all names. A name that means everything to me because He gave everything for me while I was yet a sinner. Although I sinned and fell oh so short of the glory of God, He justified me by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God put forward as a propitiation for my sins and yours! (Romans 3:23-25)
Hallelujah! We are justified through Grace!
” this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God,” (Acts 2:23)
Last night as I was sleeping, without ceremony or fanfare, May died and June was born. A new season of life has begun for me and I could not be more excited. Today is a fresh start, a new beginning, a new trip around the globe. It even rained last night making the world greener and more lush. The birds even seem to be singing with more gusto this morning.
I have spent the last two days flipping through my Bible marking out the landmarks for our year-long journey through the word.
I studied the road map of life and pinpointed our rest-stops and our resting days taking into account breaks in the stories and the need for some day’s journeys to be a bit shorter or longer than others in order to reach the best rest-stop possible. Together I believe God and I have marked out a definite reading plan for this next cycle around the Sun.
Now it’s up to us to follow it to the best of our abilities.
Yesterday God brought a slinky to my attention. He pointed out to me the shape of the coils, how they circle around a fixed point in a continual upward motion. He pointed out to me how even when the slinky appears to have no motion, the shape of the slinky itself emits motion.
So many times in life it seems like we’re not getting anywhere. It feels like nothing is happening. But that’s not true. We are constantly moving. We are always in motion through time and space in eternal clock work around the Earth’s axis, the Sun and around the universe. This place we call home is full of circles and cycles that spin us upward toward Home.
With every cycle we are one level closer to Him – even if it doesn’t feel like it. In today’s reading we find Peter quoting David prophesying about Jesus:
”
I saw the Lord always before me, for He is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in Hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.
” (Acts 2:25-28)
In our walk through life, Jesus is ever before us, guiding us in the way we should go through His Holy Spirit. He remains always present through His Spirit, the comforter, so that we will not be shaken by life’s trials and tribulations. Because of Jesus no matter what troubles befall us our hearts can be glad our tongues can rejoice because the One who goes before us has overcome this world and cleared a path for us to follow, a Way through which to go. Because of Jesus we can live in Hope and not fear. How can we do this? We remember His promise. For He will not abandon us to Hell or let those of us in Christ see corruption! Now that, my friends, is a promise! It’s the truth, a whole truth and nothing but the truth! Jesus has made known this path of life to us, the truth that once we accept His gift of salvation He is faithful to guard and protect our souls from the corruption around us. We have been given an incorruptable life through Christ! There is no greater gift, there is no better joy than to live that life! While our bodies may be wasting away, our souls grow ever stronger, healthier, more lovely with age. The presence of God in our lives makes us glad when we could be sad. He makes us prosper when all around us fails. He strengthens our hearts through this cyclical journey we call life. A cycle where we often find ourselves back in pits we were once pulled out of… But He is with us, teaching us all the while how to avoid falling deeper into those pits. And even how to avoid them altogether by leaning on his power and strength to do so.
So. Let’s hitch up those wagons and set out on this next leg of our journey through life together. The Bible is our roadmap, His Holy Spirit is our guide, and 365 Life is our travel plan.
In my first season of writing, I have dealt with marital intimacy, struggling through life’s situations, the importance of rest in the Lord, the joy and struggle of motherhood, the discovery of truly radical grace, the fascination with the marvelous light of that grace, and the discomfort of transitions. Not too bad for 2 years of blogging, if I say so myself. 10 devotionals plus two journals published equals Season 1.
Today however, marks the beginning of Season 2. We are embarking on a year-long journey through the Word of God together. We call this journey 365 Life. 365: Because it is a journey that takes 365 steps around the calendar. Life: Because those daily steps toward God bring us the abundant life Jesus spoke of in John 10:10. “The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
In John 6:22-59 Jesus tells us that He is the bread of life, the manna from heaven, sent down for us to feast upon and to have a life everlasting. In this passage Jesus, a.k.a the Word (John 1:1), refers to himself as the bread from heaven, or mana. When we inspect that particular story from Exodus 16, we find some key details for 365 life.
“Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them whether they will walk in my Law or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” (Ex 16:4-5)
For you- these daily readings are for you. They’re not you serving God, they are Him serving you a banquet that brings life! Go out- the Israelites had to get up, put on their shoes and gather the manna. While God is providing the feast, we have to make the choice to indulge in it. A day’s portion every day- just like you eat food daily to stay alive, so too we must feast on the Word of God to stay alive. While there are many different ways to prepare the meal and to eat it, God has brought you to my restaurant where you never really know what shape the manna will take, but you will know it’ll be the same amount of reading every day and that you’ll walk away full and satisfied from the Scriptures. Test them- in the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve chose to believe Satan’s word over God’s. To this very day that is still the test humanity is taking. Whose words will you believe today? By reminding yourself daily of God’s words it is so much easier to take every thought captive and toss out the words from the enemy. Life is a test, so let’s study like we want to pass! The sixth day- last season I did not get all the way through the Bible. I had a plan. I thought it was great. But it had one huge flaw, me! I had committed to reading and writing all 365 days of the next year. I failed to take into account my human frailties, my own un-reliability and most of all a day of rest! In describing the manna God said, “when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” So although we may be reading the same amount of words on the 6th day, it will last us twice as long. The Sabbath principal.
“At evening you shall know that it was the LORD who brought you out of Egypt, and in the morning you shall see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your grumbling against the LORD.” Exodus 16:6-7
These are our parameters for the next year. I will post the complete 365 Life plan as soon as I get it all typed, but for now here are the first 56 days.
I am so eagerly anticipating the beginning of this next 365: Life cycle! For those of you who are new and may be unfamiliar with 365 Life, it is our daily Bible in a year reading plan where we read together daily as a community of believers striving to attain the abundant life that Jesus promises through his word.
I personally can attest to the absolute abundance of life that reading his word every day brings. I have experienced it personally. I was amazed at the marvelous light it brought into my life. The Word of God is a powerful double edged sword that nothing can compare to. It is more than able to slice through any sticky situations you may encounter during your everyday life.
I can’t even begin to count how many times I have been so thankful that I spent time in the word before I did anything else during the day. It totally and completely sets you up for success in your life, no matter what you’re facing, no matter what you’re doing, no matter how crazy your schedule is, God is still there.
We will be starting this next life cycle this coming Saturday, June 1st. I hope that you will very prayerfully consider joining me in this year’s challenge. I can guarantee that even if you fail to meet the entire challenge, you will not be sorry that you tried! In Jesus name, you will never be the same!
“We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and His strength, and His wonderful works that He has done,” Psalm 78:4
As a parent, I value what my children are being taught, not only in school, but in life. I care about what they see and hear, and what information is being processed in their minds. Our age of technology has a lot to offer. A lot of ways to take things in but, as with food, everything that goes in is not good for you or your children.
Over and over again in the Bible we see the importance of passing the wonderful truths on that we have learned. I don’t care who you are. I don’t care what your socioeconomic status is or what is your educational background, there are valuable experiences in you that…
“This is like the days of Noah to me: as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, and will not rebuke you. For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the Lord , who has compassion on you. Isaiah 54:9-10
I don’t know about you, but for this girl who desperately wants to please God there are few words that could ever taste sweeter on my lips than these.
God is not angry with you.
So often in books and sermons we hear about the wrath of God. We tremble at the thought of falling under that wrath, what would be like? What horrors would await us there under the wrath of an almighty God?
But according to this scripture we will never know what that is like. All because Jesus took that punishment for us. At the beginning of this verse God points to the promise he gave Noah that he would never again flood the whole earth. Now in all these thousands of years since He made that promise has God ever gone back on His word?
NOPE!
Not even once!
So is it fairly easy for us to believe with confidence that God is going to continue keeping that promise and that he won’t flood the earth ever again? It’s easy for me to believe that. I’ve seen it over and over again, floods that only go so far while other regions of the world experience drought.
Now if a God who can’t lie has kept His promise about no more global floods, then wouldn’t it stand to reason that He would then also keep this promise to you? He is not angry with you. He is not rebuking you. Though the mountains may fall and the hills may tumble, His steadfast love will always be with you. No matter how far you run, from the highest height to the lowest point He is there with you still. He has promised never to leave you or forsake you. He will never turn His back on you no matter how many times you push Him away. He will always be there. He is always in love with you. Always praying that you will accept His affections.
Your eye shall not pity. It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. Deuteronomy 19:21
Reading this today it just seemed so harsh! Have no pity? None? And yet this just proves to me how AWESOME our God is.
Take a look at Deuteronomy 21:18-21 again:
“If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, and they shall say to the elders of his city. ‘This, our son, is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst,, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.”
How often are we that rebellious child? I don’t know about you, but I’ve lost count myself! So while that punishment is what we deserve, it’s not what we receive!
Take a look at the very next passage, Deuteronomy 21:22-23:
“And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death (like being a rebellious child) and he is put to death and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance.”
A man hung on a tree is cursed by God eh? Mark 15:34 records that on the cross Jesus cried out, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Did you know that the twenty second Psalm starts with those exact words?
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him/ let him rescue him, for he delights in him! Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother’s breast. On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb you have been my God. Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help. Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me; they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion. I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you law me in the dust of death. For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet – I can count all my bones – they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots. But you, O LORD, do not be far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid! Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog! Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen! I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you; You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel! For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him. From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will perform before those who fear him. The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the LORD! May your hearts live forever! All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations. All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive. Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.”
In John’s account of the cross he tells us that Jesus’ final words were “It is finished”. He had done it. He had finished the work God had sent him to do. He had been hung on a cross (also known as a tree).
You see, Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians,
“if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, ‘In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.’ Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (5:17-6:2)
My friends, today is the day of favor, today is the day of salvation! Jesus is alive. He has paid the penalty FOR US! “it shall be a life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.” Our lives should have been taken on that tree, but He put His Son there instead. Our eyes were the ones that deserved to be spit in, but He did that for us. Our teeth deserved to be gnashing outside the gates of heaven but because of Him they’ll be singing inside them. Our hands, our feet, they deserved to be nailed to that cross on that day, but He took them instead. For me. For you. For all of us, because that’s how Amazing Love really is.
And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel. – Deut. 17:19
Wow! How quickly things can change! As many of you know, last year God issued me a challenge to write through the Bible in a year. And I’ll admit I have failed miserably in getting all the way through in a year’s time. BUT I’ve come SOOOO much farther than I’ve ever been before and learned so much more than I ever thought possible, but I still have not completed the task I was assigned. Specifically, getting it accomplished in a year. Yesterday God blessed me with a terrific birthday present for the website, pens with the name on them!
I sat by the door waiting for the UPS guy to get up to the porch with them, I was soooo excited! I ripped open the box grabbed the first pen and immediately put it to paper… nothing. It refused to write. I tried another one, nothing. It wouldn’t write either! “Oh you have GOT to be kidding me! I can’t give these away, people will hate them! They don’t work.” I grabbed another one out of the box, “Lord! Please! Why won’t these work!?!” This one tried to work. The ink started to flow and then stopped and then started again and then stopped again, “UGH! They are so inconsistent! None of them are writing the first time I go to write with them! What is the deal?”
“Really annoying isn’t it.” God says.
“YES! It’s driving me crazy! I don’t want people to not like their pen because it’s inconsistent. I mean this has my name on it!”
And He says, “Then how do you think I feel?”
BAM!!!!! Conviction!
“Yes Lord. I will do better at writing every day like You called me to.”
When I started writing for the Lord I fondly referred to myself as His pen. I wasn’t the author of these books, He was. I wasn’t the writer of this blog, He is. Yet as time progressed I became less and less reliable to do what He had called me to do. I was getting tired. Very tired to be honest. I have never, not ever been able to read through the Bible from cover to cover. I’m not really sure why, I just haven’t. Yet I am DETERMINED to make this happen. Period. God challenged me to do it and if there’s one thing about me you need to know it’s that I am STUBBORN. Just ask my husband or my parents. When I get my mind set on something there is very little that can stop me. This is one of those things. I don’t want for people to throw God’s pen away because it writes inconsistently. God is constant, so I need to be too. He has given me the mission of reading and writing through the Bible in a year and helping others do the same. I’ve seen the change that it’s made in my life, TREMENDOUS change! I want others to know the joy that comes from those daily intimate moments with God in His word and through writing about it in a simple little journal. It’s amazing to me how something so easy can make such a HUGE difference in a life. I want others to know the POWER of God’s word living and acting in their lives. The system that God has helped me create to help us on this journey is amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it! It’s something that is variable in depth where you can spend as little or as much time digging into it as you want. Knowing full well that the deeper down the rabbit hole you go the closer you get to God’s wonderland! He is so magnificent! I hope you can see that today. I pray that you can see that today, His glory, His marvelous love for you in wonderous ways. (Jennifer)
So after the conversation about the pens, I was convinced that writing daily was imperative for me and my schedule. I knew that it was something that I was supposed to protect in my life. So of course, what is the very thing that became next to impossible to get to today? My pen and paper! I retreated into my bedroom with my Bible and shut the door behind me for some really precious intimate time with Jesus. But I made a huge mistake; I brought my phone with me. So of course, it kept ringing and I kept answering it between paragraphs. Until finally the Holy Spirit says to me, “If you were being intimate with your husband in here right now would you be answering the phone?”
“Of course not!”
“Then why are you answering it now?”
WHOAH!!!
Now I need to tell you, convicting conversations like this don’t happen between us very often. Usually they’re very different and very lovey toward each other. So when I get two in a row like this I realize just how much this means to Him. I’ve seen the difference consistent reading of the Word can make, I’ve lived it. I’ve preached it. And yet here I am, having fallen from it. I have allowed the business of life to get in the way of the romance of life. Intimate alone time with my Savior is PRECIOUS and yet I have forsaken that and that hurts Him. I could hear it in His voice. I mean, here He’s busting through walls to get me where I am and I’m not willing to spend 30 minutes reading His love letter to me every day? What kind of gratitude is that?
And yet, there is my Savior, loving me and cheering me on all the same. A couple of days ago I was jumping on the trampoline with Anna. She asked me to lay down on the trampoline with her and make a leaf angel. I told her “No, I don’t want to get leaves stuck in my hair.” And the moment the words were out of my mouth I could sense that the Holy Spirit was saying something to me, I just wasn’t exactly sure what until yesterday while I was reading Darrell Creswell’s blog. He mentioned Matthew 18:3-5, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one such child in my name receives Me”
I just kept staring at this picture. It’s PRECIOUS. Yet I knew that there was something in it that Jesus wanted me to find. As a teacher I have lived my life around children. They are some of the wisest beings on the planet! So this verse is tucked down deep into my heart because I KNOW that children have more to teach us than we have to teach them. So what did these two children have to teach me? I asked Him, “Lord, what are you trying to show me?”
“What do you see?”
“They’re so DIRTY.”
“Is that often a characteristic of children?”
“YES!” I laughed.
“Why?”
“Because they’re not afraid to get dirty.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s fun.”
“Do you think maybe that’s My message when I’m telling you to be more childlike in your faith? Don’t be afraid to get dirty. Go have fun then come wash in the water of the Word, that’s what Grace is all about.”
I get so afraid of doing things wrong, of messing them up, that I forget why I’m doing them in the first place; because they’re FUN! I LOVE writing! I LOVE my alone time with God! Yet so often I catch myself thinking it’s something that I HAVE to do instead of something that I GET to do. We are the FIRST generation to have God’s Word as accessible to us as it is. Being in the Word every day is a luxury that NO ONE before this time has EVER been able to indulge in. Not like this. Abraham was never been able to curl up in a comfy chair with a steamy mug of joe tickling his wiskers and scan the pages of a well worn Bible. Moses never had that, Sarah didn’t get that, and even the Disciples didn’t do that, only us. The printing press is a very recent commodity not to mention smart phones and the internet that put His word in our pockets at the touch of a screen. We are so spoiled and we forget that all too easily. I forget that all too often.
So today, after grappling with my hectic life to get to my desk and my computer to write something down, I open it up and my ever-changing background is a picture of my husband at the Tough Mudder he ran last June. And I just stare at it as my computer is booting up. In this picture he is at the top of a VERY difficult obstacle helping someone else get to the top. He is COVERED in mud from head to toe, he is absolutely exhausted, yet he’s not moving on to finish his own race, he has paused to help someone else accomplish the task that he has just tackled. And not on his lonesome either I might add. You see, that’s how difficult this obstacle is. You can’t really accomplish it by yourself. You have to have at least one person helping you. That’s kind of the point of this obstacle, actually the entire Tough Mudder race. It’s all about team work and helping the other runners get to the finish line together. The people ahead of you help you up, and then you help the people behind you and everyone finishes.
Staring at this picture of my Beloved today I was so struck by how perfectly it mimics the race of life and faith. We can’t do this on our own. We just can’t. No matter how much we try, no matter how much we want to, we can’t run this race alone. We NEED the people who have gone ahead of us to help us up. And the people behind us NEED our help to make it through the obstacles ahead of them. But together we ALL finish the race to win a prize that is imperishable and secure and VERY well worth the effort. We strive to enter into His rest; a promise for the centuries before us, for us, and for those after us. To enter into the rest is realizing that the work has been finished from the beginning.
“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God FINISHED his Work That He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done.” Genesis 2:1-2
The work has been finished since the beginning. God set all the dominoes in place in six days. On the seventh, He tipped over the first one and sat down to watch them all fall into the PERFECT pattern that He created. How beautiful is that!?! The work is finished, and all we have to do is REST in knowing that the work is over. We have to rest in confidence knowing that our lives aren’t about what we do or don’t do, they’re about what GOD is DOING in them and through them. I used to think that we would sit up in heaven and chat about the things that WE did here on earth. Now I don’t think that’s what we’ll be doing at all. From heaven we will be able to see the big picture God created with the dominoes and we will stand in such absolute awe of it that all we will be able to talk about is what GOD did with us. Not the other way around. J
AS struck as I was with this picture of my husband helping others finish the race well I know I wanted to share it with you. So I went to my picture program and pulled up all the photos from that day. I found three video clips of Sean’s three attempts to scale the half pipe. I want you to watch them and notice, the “cloud of witness” surrounding the racers, cheering them on, urging them forward as they try their hardest to scale this insurmountable mountain. I also want you to note that this obstacle is within sight of the finish line and comes after about 12.5 miles of pure hell. These people are past the point of absolute exhaustion. They were “done” about ten miles ago, yet chose to keep running simply because they wanted to finish. Sheer determination is the ONLY thing that is keeping them going at this point. That, and the cheers of those surrounding them. These videos may be of my husband, the strikingly handsome man in the orange shirt, but place yourself in them when you watch them. Picture that mountain you’ve been trying to climb as the half pipe. Picture the people in your life as the people at the top trying to pull you up. God has surrounded you with a great cloud of witnesses, some you can see and hear and others you can’t. But know that they are ALL cheering for you as loudly as they possibly can. With every fiber of their being there are pulling for you, praying for you, doing everything they’re allowed to do to help you get past this obstacle.
I may not have met my goal of the entire Bible in one year. But that doesn’t mean I have to stop trying. Like Sean in this video, I made it farther than I’ve ever made it before and THAT IS an accomplishment. A huge one. Now it’s time for me to back up, take what I learned from the first attempts and do my best to make it all the way up this time. And if I don’t, there’s always next year. J
I’m going to be taking the next few days to pull together all the resources from the last year, pray and with the Holy Spirit create a more efficient plan of attack for this coming year of reading and writing. I would greatly appreciate your prayers in this as I am learning how absolutely critical this challenge is for ALL of us. Also, during this time I would like for you to very prayerfully consider joining me on this next attempt up the pipe. I can fully attest to the power of daily reading, even if I wasn’t successful in fully accomplishing the goal. I got close enough to know that it is a worthy goal to attain. And I would love to go through this TOGETHER with YOU. Let me know in the comments section if you’re in this with me. The reading plan is available in its entirety on the “Printables” page. It includes links to every single day’s readings! Together we can do this my friends!
What I am about to share with you is one of the most liberating statements of truth I know. Are you ready?
“It’s not about me.”
I know, something so simple and so obvious yet so often overlooked. But as a recovering Pharisee I struggle with legalism a lot. I’ve always been adamant about following the rules… even if it meant hurting someone else or disobeying God.
Mmmm… I heard that! Someone just said, “God doesn’t tell us to disobey rules!” Not so my friend. It was a rule to obey those put in charge over them, yet God called Daniel and his friends to disobey the king’s order to eat non-kosher food. (Daniel 1:8-16) It was a rule to wash your hands before meals, yet Jesus didn’t. (Matthew 15:1-20) It was a rule that you couldn’t pick grain on the Sabbath, yet Jesus and His Disciples did. (Mark 2:23-3:6)
Am I saying that God is telling us to burst into anarchy and break ALL the rules all the time, no, of course not. He is, however, telling us to TRUST JESUS.
Let’s say you just happen to be standing with the Governor of Indiana and the President of the United States. If the Governor tells you to do something and then the President jumps in and says not to do that thing, whose word trumps whose? Which one of them do you choose to trust and obey? The President! He is the highest authority in the land.
My point is this; throughout the Bible God repeats, over and over again, “do not fear” and “I am with you.” In fact many times they’re found together in the same sentence. Right now some of you may be facing a mountain of debt that just isn’t seeming to move, or a tumor(s) that just won’t seem to go away. You may be facing a situation at work where you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. Don’t be afraid of what those things can do in your life, because the highest authority in ALL the land is right there facing that thing with you! He is on YOUR side. He’s not fighting against you, He’s fighting with you. He is the creator of those mountains we can’t seem to climb on our own. And He has given us the promise that apart from Him we can do nothing (John 15:5), which translates into, a part of Him, we can do EVERYTHING.
EVERYTHING!
When we realize and remember that Jesus is always with us through His Holy Spirit, WE can move that mountain of debt, WE can dissolve that nasty cancer, WE can get out from between that rock and the hard place. Because Jesus is on our side we can suddenly do things we couldn’t before because we’re suddenly fighting with His strength, His talent, His power through the Holy Spirit.
My friends, today because of Christ we can say with confidence, “It’s not about me.” Because we know the Truth; it’s ALL about Jesus!
I can hardly believe that the website is a year old today! It’s been a very exciting year for us over here! And looking back over it all I am so overwhelmed with how far we’ve come and how much things have changed. And looking forward at the calendar, things are still changing! It’s all very exciting, and a little nerve wracking as I’m trying my best to simply keep up with everything that God is doing. But He is so faithful and He has held me through it all. I am so blessed by you all and the work that I have been called to do for you. It has changed me in ways I NEVER could have expected and yet I look at myself today and I am so very thankful for the work the Father has done in me. I love myself today. I love who I have become and who I am. I don’t know that I could have said that four years ago; at least not in a completely honest way. I didn’t love who I was because I wasn’t looking at myself from God’s point of view. I wasn’t seeing my situations, my past, my faults through His eyes of complete love. I was choosing to see them through Satan’s eyes of condemnation. When I think back on how I treated myself it makes me want to weep. I never gave myself permission to fail. And when I did fail, I would lay there and let Satan beat me brutally – because I thought I deserved it.
Yesterday I visited the local Teen Challenge facility. I didn’t really sit and talk with any of the girls, but I was able to hear a few of their stories and experience a small nibble of their day with them. I walked the same halls they walk, I ate the same lunch they eat, I talked with their teacher. And through it all I realized how alike we all are. We all deal with the same demons, we all fight the same Enemy, we all allow him to beat us verbally until his face turns blue. And we do that because he has us convinced that we deserve it.
There was a time when we might have deserved it, if we had lived before Christ came. But we don’t. We have the luxury and privilege of living after Christ’s death. And what a privilege it is! Because of Jesus we can look at ourselves through Son-glasses. Glasses that were forged through the fires of hell as Jesus walked through them FOR US, because He knew that they were far too hot for us to stand.
In a strange way I almost envy those girls at Teen Challenge. Because at the ripe old age of 17 (give or take a few years) they will have walked through something so tremendous, with Jesus, that their faith will be far less shakable throughout the rest of their lives. Their foundation for their life will be so much firmer having gone through what they have been through. Not to mention the works that the Lord will have them do once they have finished the program! Yes. While I do not envy their sufferings, I do envy the relationship with Christ that will come from those sufferings. These girls will be leaders, strong leaders, you just wait and see! God has big plans for them!
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Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, ‘In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.’ Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (5:17-6:2)
And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel. – Deut. 17:19
It’s PRECIOUS. Yet I knew that there was something in it that Jesus wanted me to find. As a teacher I have lived my life around children. They are some of the wisest beings on the planet! So this verse is tucked down deep into my heart because I KNOW that children have more to teach us than we have to teach them. So what did these two children have to teach me? I asked Him, “Lord, what are you trying to show me?”
