The Empty Tomb

"Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdaline came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance."  John 20:1
Last night, I went to a play called "The Witness", which was a musical production of the life and death of  Jesus. How powerful to see actors recreate the story of  Jesus. At the end of the production, there was the empty tomb and then there was a light that came from the tomb and Jesus walked out. Everyone in the audience shouted with joy and clapped their hands. What excitement we all shared, and that was the end of the play. But then the actor that played Simon Peter exclaimed, "This is not the end, but just the beginning".  Oh yes, the empty tomb was the beginning and not the end, for now the door is open and it starts the beginning of a new journey for many. The empty tomb not only signifies victory over death, but it signifies  new beginnings. Just as Mary Magdalene had a new beginning in her own life, we too have the promise of the "Empty Tomb". The Empty Tomb is the open door for many of us to leave the place of death and walk into life. Look carefully at the perspective of the picture above. We usually think of an empty tomb from the perspective of standing on the outside looking in. If we were doing that, we would be standing in our current life and we could only see a dark and empty place of death. But stand where Jesus stood from INSIDE the tomb. Here we are, living in this world, in the place of death. But we do have hope and since the stone was rolled away and now we can look outside to the place of life and there is hope. If we die to ourselves and accept the free gift of eternal life that only Jesus can give us, then we will be able to see the magnificence and the promise of eternal life. What a difference it makes as to where to stand in life. Are you standing outside the tomb and looking in? Or are you inside the tomb and looking out? Let us tell as many people as we can today, that Easter is all about the promise that the empty tomb brings. The tomb is empty because there is life through Jesus!
God's Promise:" For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent His son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him."(John 3:16-17)
(Repost from a previous posted blog)

Fast 2014

Inspire Church is going into our yearly fast from January 2 through January 15th. I found the best article recently about fasting and I wanted to share this with you:

The Power & Mystery of Biblical Fasting by Susan Gregory from The Daniel Cure

Biblical fasting is always about abstaining from food — not refraining from activities such as using Facebook or watching television. Biblical fasting means refraining from all food or certain foods for a spiritual purpose for a limited period of time. The Hebrew word for “fast” is tsôwm (twoom), which means “to cover the mouth.” The Greek word for fast is nēstěuō (nace-tyoo-o), which means “to abstain from food.”

A fast is a highly focused period of time when we examine our lives and seek to align ourselves with the ways of God. We do this by separating ourselves from our typical patterns and routines and entering a spiritual experience for a given time.

Fasting is a spiritual discipline and the practice has tenets that we want to follow so we can be assured a successful experience.

Fasting is temporary, which means it’s doable.Setting aside a specific and limited amount of time for fasting sharpens our focus on God. We then can enter more deeply into His truths. As we open our hearts to the Holy Spirit and purpose ourselves to learn from Him, our Father is able to minister to us as His precious children.

The spiritual power we experience through fasting is a mystery.

In the Bible, the term “mystery” refers specifically to insights and truths we understand only when God reveals them directly to our spirit. When we fast, we fully surrender ourselves to God — spirit, soul, and body. We submit our will to God, follow a set of guidelines about food, and open our hearts to this mystery. God miraculously uses our submission to strengthen us, empower us, fill us, and change us. We get a taste of what Jesus meant when He said, “You are in me, and I am in you” (John 14:20). When we fast we focus more of our attention on God through prayer and study.

One can pray without fasting... but you cannot fast authentically without praying.

Without this spiritual dimension, a fast would be no different than a typical diet. But since a fast is first a spiritual experience — made to draw us closer to God — we aren’t dieting. Instead, we are placing ourselves into holy submission.

On a diet, we might occasionally cheat or fail to keep the promises we made to ourselves. But a fast is different. Because when we fast, we are partnering with God for a spiritual outcome. We are expecting Him to impact our lives, so we maintain our commitment to Him.

Here’s another difference: When God’s Spirit empowers our spirit, we experience His support and become steadfast in our commitment. Suddenly we have the power and the desire to say no to things not allowed on the fast. Our motivation to succeed becomes so much stronger than the temptation to drink a can of soda or eat a slice of pizza. This new-found discipline is part of the powerful mystery of fasting.

For many, the demands of everyday life are so packed with activities, responsibilities, and to-do lists that feeling overwhelmed is normal. With so many pressures, few have time to feed their soul. The result is spiritual and emotional starvation — a deep inner hunger for peace, rest, and security. And this hunger is pervasive. At every age, in every walk of life, too many of us are starving for the nourishment that only God can provide.

When we fast, we come to the Lord’s table and feast on His love, care, and wisdom. We change our behavior. We slow our pace. We focus intently on spiritual matters and enjoy what our souls are truly hungry for — Jesus, the Bread of Life.

Unfortunately, too many of us try to satisfy our hunger with the spiritual equivalent of “fast food” — self-defeating behaviors, relationships that have more to do with feeding carnal hunger than the longing of the soul.

Author and pastor John Piper writes, “Do you have a hunger for God? If we don’t feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because we have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because we have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Our soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great. If we are full of what the world offers, then perhaps a fast might express, or even increase, our soul’s appetite for God. Between the dangers of self-denial and self-indulgence is the path of pleasant pain called fasting.”

Truly, the call deep within us beckons not for physical food or pleasures. What our souls are truly hungry for is the Bread of Life — the Lord — who said, “People do not live by bread alone” (Matthew 4:4). And Jesus responds to our hunger with this invitation:

Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. — Matthew 11:28–29

Moving Forward

"You must therefore be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn to the right or to the left. 33 You must follow exactly the path that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you are to possess." Deuteronomy 5:32-33

 The people of Israel needed to look back to the time when Moses received the Ten Commandments from God and once they reviewed the past, then they were to use that as their foundation and to move forward. Sometimes in life, we need to look back briefly before we begin to move forward. We may need to take an assessment of how far we have come in our relationship with Christ. It may begin by asking yourself this question, “Where was my faith five years ago?” Then when you review where you were, then you can then ask, “where am I now in my faith”. Now you can truly assess your growth. Once an assessment is made of where you are now, you can look forward as to where you believe God is leading you. Moving forward may not always have a clear path or clarity of your final destination. I do know that God will always give you the next step. It is funny, for I have found that the next step I need to take is always with faith.  I think it is like the time I was driving in fog. I could not see the road ahead of me but I could see the lines on the road directly in front, and all I could do was follow the lines, even when I could not see the road ahead. This is like our lives, walking in faith. We are to just be obedient and follow God’s Will in obedience, even when we don’t know where we are headed. Sometimes God will show us the road and where we are headed and other times, He just wants us to trust in Him. He wants us to walk in faith like Abraham, when he was called to leave his home with his family, and didn’t know where he was called. Faith, even as small as a mustard seed, is still faith. He never asks us for huge faith, but as long as we have faith, that is what will get us moving on his path.
Question: How has your faith walk grown in the last five years?

What to Wear

"Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." Colossians 3:12-14

 I had the honor to speak at a Women’s Group and this was the scripture that they wanted me to talk about. Wearing clothes is quite significant. We have the choice everyday to put on whatever garment we choose. Just as we go to our closet and look for an outfit to wear, we also wear our attitudes. We can put on the garment of grief, sadness, anger or any of those emotions that come from the enemy. Or, we have the choice to take out the new clothes, put them on, and wear the attitudes of kindness, forgiveness and mostly love. It is not the other person’s choice but it rest squarely on our own shoulders. We choose what we wear daily. We need not have to go back and take out the old sin nature that is torn and stained. We used to wear old dirty rags when we were not saved. But when we were saved, we now wear new garments and they are like new and clean clothes.We are all new creations in Christ and with that comes new clothes which is a whole new attitude and perspective in life. We choose to wear the new or the old. What do you choose to wear today?

Prescription for Peace of Mind

Philippians 4:6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.

Paul writes about peace of mind and it is about how to achieve it. The greatest way to achieve this peace of mind is, not to worry. Replace worry with prayer. It seems to be a quick and simple process, when we begin to worry, we pray and then fix our thoughts on Jesus.I was thinking today about how easily we can lose our peace of mind. It can begin with a thought and we grab hold of the negative thought, which then creates a negative emotion. This keeps on multiplying and then it becomes “worry”. Paul, in Philippians 4,  gives us the prescription on how to deal with worry. Like today, I had to call the pharmacy to refill a prescription. On the bottle it states the name of the drug and then the description of how to use it. We have the same written in God’s Word for us. It goes something like this:

Prescription for Worry
Take 1 prayer of petition and thanksgiving,  as needed for peace of mind
Use daily with thoughts that are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and worthy of praise.
If you put into practice daily, you will maintain your peace of mind.
Precautions: Guard your heart and minds

This prescription for worry is written by the Great Physician himself. It is delivered to us personally and the prescription never runs out. Now this is something to always rejoice in!

"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people." Ephesians 6:18

 Having read Ephesians 6 often, I got new revelations as I read it today. I see there is a pattern here on prayer. What does Paul say in his letter to the church in Ephesus? It is, we are to pray. Prayer is powerful and the first thing mentioned is to "pray in the Spirit". Praying in the spirit means that we are to be filled by the Holy Spirit power and that our prayers are made not by human flesh, but by the power of the Spirit. Second point was that there are many kinds of prayer. As I teach Prayer 101, I have categorized prayer into five areas: petition prayer, intercessory prayer, spiritual warfare and praying for baptism with the Holy Spirit. There are many kinds of prayer but these are the major categories. Then it says to “be alert”. This means to always be aware with your spiritual eyes. It means to be able to clearly see the schemes and plans of the enemy and to be able to come against it. Then the last thing is to “keep on praying”. To me it means to be praying continuously thought the day. Prayer of thanksgiving, praying for others, praying to confess our shortcomings...pray, pray, pray. What this all sums up to me is that we are to be in communication with God, all the time and just as we would be talking to a friend if we were in a car going somewhere, we talk to God in the same way. We share our frustrations, our joys, we share everything we are going through. We speak, He speaks. That two way conversation is called a personal relationship with God through prayer. 

Good Friday - Word from the Cross

Today is Good Friday, and my thoughts are focused on the cross. So many other Christians are doing the same today. It is a time of reflection and a time to think of the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus gave us and that was to die on the cross for our sins. I thought of the time that Jesus was on the cross and wanted to focus on what he said and what scripture had to say about those last words, those dying words from Jesus Christ, our Savior.


So let us meditate on the seven verses spoken by Jesus from the Cross.
 
First verse: Jesus said, "Father, forgive them: for they do not know what they are doing." And they parted His garments, and cast lots (Luke 23:34).

Second verse:  One of the malefactors said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when You come into your kingdom".  Jesus said to him, "I tell you the Truth, today you will be with Me in paradise" (Luke 23:42-43)

Third verse: When Jesus saw His mother, and the disciple standing by, whom He loved, Jesus said to His mother, "Dear woman, here is your son!"  Then He said to the disciple, "Here is your mother!" And from that hour, that disciple took her unto his own home (John 19:27).

Fourth verse:  After talking to His mother and the disciple, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I thirst".

Fifth verse: When Jesus had received the vinegar, Jesus said, "It is finished" (John 19:30).  Jesus finished His work on the Cross in fulfillment of the Scriptures. We have to believe in His finished work at Calvary for our salvation and for our healing. We are also crucified with Him ( Gal.2:20). It is finished. Jesus will not again go to the Cross for giving us salvation or for healing our diseases.

Sixth verse:  About the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama Sabachthani? that is to say, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" ( Mat.27:46).

Seventh verse: About the sixth hour, there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.  And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.  And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, He said, "Father into Thy hands I commend My Spirit" (Luke 23:45-46). The children of God on their deathbed have to commit their spirits into the hands of God after finishing their races in this world.

Forgetting the Past

Philippians 3:13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.15 Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you. 16 But we must hold on to the progress we have already made.

Great scripture today for I became aware that we are not to look back but to keep our eyes focused on what lies ahead. This is an important concept for us all to remember, that the past is gone and all we really have is today. We are to not live in the past and the “I should have”, “I could have”, which is about regrets or guilt. Those things in our past are gone but also paid with a price...the price of Jesus going to the cross and dying for us...he took OUR sin upon himself when he died and now we have been redeemed! Our eyes to to be looking forward as to the end of the race...not looking back at where we came from! What I like is verses 15 and 16. What if we are caught up in a current struggle? We may often have disagreements with others, and that is common...we are human. To always come in love but look at the progress we have made and where we come from. Only then can we look back and that is to see where we came from to be able to gauge our current progress. Eyes can go backward, only to use that as a measuring tool of where we are today. Isn’t that good? Stay in the today, look back for verification of the progress we have made, but keep the vision on the finish line. What an awesome word today.

Question: Are you living in the past? Can you look back and see the progress you have made?

Life's Challenges

“Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.”Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?” 2 Samuel 9:7-8

In 2 Samuel 9, David wanted to show honor to any living relative of Jonathan, whom was from the House of Saul. When it was discovered that the son of Jonathan had crippled feet from a fall when he was 5, David showed love and compassion to Mephibosheth. Although Mephibostheth felt unworthy, for he saw himself as a “dead dog”. A physical challenge does not need to define a person’s human worth. Having been a Special Education teacher for 29 years, I see not only how society can label people as “handicapped” and not having much worth. Not only can society label the person, but the person can also have the same mindset and think that they are less. According to God’s standard, they are equal to everyone else. They may have a physical challenge but it doesn’t mean that they are less of a person. It bothers me when people use the word “handicapped”. When I was at the University of Hawaii,  I found the basis of the word handicapped. It came from beggars that had physical challenges that would sit in public, using their caps as a way to collect money. There fore the cap in their hands begging is the basis for the word handicapped. That word is not acceptable when people have physical or emotional challenges in their life. Just as David saw Mephibosheth as being able, we should do the same. Even Mephibosheth saw himself as not being worthy but in God’s Kingdom, but we know that we are ALL Worthy!!
Question: What are your personal values when it comes to people with physical or mental challenges? How has this blog given you a different perspective?

Tinted Glasses of Perception

" When Saul realized that the Lord was with David and that his daughter Michal loved David, Saul became still more afraid of him, and he remained his enemy the rest of his days." 1 Samuel 18:28-29

 Saul was a jealous man, for it started when the people sang as Saul returned from battle, that Saul had killed one thousand but David killed ten thousand! This opened the gate to jealousy and it was a tormenting spirit. From that time on, Saul was always plotting on how to rid himself of David  - the one that had God’s favor. Saul not only felt jealousy but fear of David...fear of intimidation and from that, David was now seen through the eyes of Saul as the “enemy”. Was this the case? No, David honored the King and wanted nothing more than to serve him but Saul’s perspection, his vision was tainted with suspicion, jealousy, anger and fear. This happens today when we have hurts from our past and we begin to view the world through these tainted glasses. It is not reality but it is how we are perceiving the world, through the lens of emotions...through the strongholds that the enemy has set before us to trip us up. We need to be on guard as to those emotions that will be those boulders in our road. Having the Holy Spirit bring those up and to identify what is holding us back, is the first step to the clearing of those tainted glasses that we wear. Begin to identify those feelings that are not of the Lord and start to set them aside and see them as distortions of our perceptions, or our reality. Often people point fingers at others. Well, she did this, he did that...and really it is all about why we are feeling upset about the situation, for why is it triggering us? What is the hook that the enemy has used to get us to believe the distortions, the deception. Same thing happened to Eve in the garden....”Did He really say not to eat ....”. We need to always line up truth against deceptions and how we can do that is to use the Word of God as the truth!

Question: What stronghold do you have in your life?

Eye of the Eagle

Ears that hear and eyes that see— the Lord has made them both. Proverbs 20:12

God has given us the ears and eyes for the ability to see and hear. Think about those senses for a moment. We take information in from the world around us and it goes to our brains, heart and settles in our soul. Pastor Mike mentioned that we have three parts, physical, soul and spirit. The soul comprises of our thoughts and feelings. So it is taking in information of the world into ourselves and so it is important what we watch and hear. We can use these gifts for ministry and for the betterment of God’s Kingdom or we can use these senses to please ourselves. Guarding what we see and heart is very important because it settles in our soul and it effects our spirit. If we bring in garbage we will have garbage in our hearts...but if we bring in what is good, holy, pure, lovely etc. we store those things in our hearts. The eagle has the most incredible eyesight. It can be flying at great heights and can focus in on a fish that is underwater and be able to see it with chrystal clarity. The eagle’s eye is sharp and focused. We too can be like that. If we stay in God’s Word daily, we become more focused and can have more clarity about the would around us. We can see life through the Father’s heart and begin to really perceive and understand God’s Kingdom here on earth. Isn’t that what we all want? To be able to have eyes and ears for God and to use these gifts wisely. He gave us those gifts for us and we are to choose the use of them for advancement of His Kingdom.
Question: What have you been seeing and hearing lately from God?

Fortune Tellers

"When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?  Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn." Isaiah 9:19-20

People don’t realize who they are dealing with when they go to fortune tellers, mediums or psychics. When they tell you about what the dead are saying and what is being held for you in your future, they are really getting connected with the Satanic and deceived by the demonic realm. People don’t realize that there are two Kingdoms, the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan. They are two opposing Kingdoms here on earth. Satan is all about deception. People may think it is harmless to consult with spiritualists whom claim to be clairvoyant and can speak to the dead. Dead people go to either Heaven or Hell, they are not ghosts roaming around the earth. What are those things that people call ghosts or spirits that are roaming on the earth? They are the fallen angels, the demons that came down with Satan. They want you to believe that your loved ones are speaking to you beyond the grave. What is happening is that it is the demonic realm that is deceiving you. Yes, there is power, but the power does not come from God. So I shudder when I talk to people and they casually mention that they went to a psychic to ask about their future. Oh No...when people do that, they make a demonic agreement to allow the enemy access to their lives. This is what we call the demonic agreement and unless they renounce it, the enemy has rights to the person. The only true power comes from the Holy Spirit and all other powers are deception.

Question: What experiences have you had in your life with the occult, fortune tellers, psychics or spiritualists?

Anger

Proverbs 15:1 A gentle answer turns away wrath,
but a harsh word stirs up anger. Proverbs 15:1

The soothing tongue is a tree of life,

but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit. Proverbs 15:4

A hot-tempered person stirs up conflict,

but the one who is patient calms a quarrel. Proverbs 15:18

 The Spirit of anger and rage is a destructive force in relationships. It puts a wedge in relationships and divides people. Much has been written on anger management and how to control anger. Let’s look at three scriptures on what one can do and one element is to “control the tongue”. Notice what scripture does not say. It doesn't say to not feel anger, but we are  to control what you do with it and how we express it. What one thing people do is to respond to anger by saying things or coming back in defense through words. Ah, the tongue. So many times the tongues gets us in trouble! Let's go a little deeper shall we? Let’s look at anger that is in us and we are the ones experiencing the anger. Verse 18 addresses that when anger is sent outward and expressed in words and actions, it stirs up conflict. This is setting yourself up for a battle with another person. It invites conflict and intices anger from another person. The second area to look at is when anger is directed at us. This is another area that we are to watch our responses. Scripture tells us that no matter how  an angry person expresses his anger through words,  we are to be “patient” and “calm” and not react to the anger of another person. (I must add in that if someone is acting out to us in a physical manner, that is another story and  this form of anger cannot be tolerated. We are defining the anger that comes at us from another, in the form of words.) When one says an angry word or action toward another person, the receiver has two choices. The receiver can react back in defensive anger through responding in angry words and it will then escalate the encounter into a quarrel. The other choice is NOT to react and to not engage the offender by reacting to the anger. I have learned in many of our prayer sessions that the root of anger is “fear”. Fear of man, fear of intimidatation, fear of loss of control. When one feels like they cannot control others or a situation, then they get angry. Not being able to control a situation or a person will usually trigger anger. Make sense?! I know of a young married  couple that have been married less than a year and they are going through an adjustment period right now and they are having quarrels. They are fighting and triggering each other in anger. It takes two to fight, so one needs to walk away and get calm before the harsh words escalate into a quarrel. They begin the “dance”. One says a harsh word, the other returns with a harsh word and they go back and forth. Just like a dance and the anger gets a foothold. Not good. Each one wants to be the winner! The only one that wins is the enemy!We need to keep these scriptures in hand, use them as our sword to fight this spiritual battle of anger in relationships. We also need to remember  about not engaging in anger and allowing the enemy to have a foothold. 

Question: What have you learned today about not engaging the spirit of anger through the use of our tongues?

Pursue

“I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me. “Proverbs 9:17

 In my devotions today, I was reading Proverbs 9. There was so much to say about wisdom and how we should pursue wisdom above all things. Then I got to verse 17 and it literally jumped off the page for me. It was like finding a little love note on my desk from God. As I saw the verse, I heard God speaking directly to me about Him loving me and about me seeking Him. When I seek Him, I will find Him. It does not mean that I can rush through my daily devotions, do a quick prayer then check off on my list of things to do today, “devotions, done”. Experiencing God in His fullness is to reach out for Him but another word that comes up is pursue. To me it means to strive in going forward, to chase, to run after, to intentionally go for what you desire. Sometimes I can get very comfortable in my devotions and not have a hunger or desire to "pursue". Explaining more about pursue, it is reaching out, striving, going deeper....getting hungry for more. That is the desire and passion that sparks the flame under devotions. That fire, that flame, that desire is the love we have for God. That is what this verse was saying to me, that He loves those that love Him. It makes so much sense, that when we love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, we will be seeking Him and pursing Him and then we will find Him. As I go into my devotions today in prayer, I will spend time just experiencing God. First, I need to be quiet, to seek and to pursue Him. Then and only then will I find Him.

Question: How much are you seeking God today?  

Hard Hearts

“But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, 4 he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites. 5 And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.” Exodus 7:3

God said specifically, that He was going to “harden” Pharaoh's heart. This was THE plan from the very beginning. Pharaoh would hear and see truth but he would not believe in the one true God. Why? It is made real clear to us that God said that all of the Egyptians will “know that I am God” when God brings the plagues against this nation. Some people will only believe when they are under the toughest of circumstances. Sometimes, God needs to bring people to their rock bottom to get them to their knees, to truly know Him. I heard the saying once, “when we are flat on our backs, the only way to look is up.” This is so true. Some people have to learn the hard way and these were the Egyptians. This is God using tough circumstances to get the Egyptian attention. Don’t you think He does the same today? In the middle of challenges, we can see God more clearly. I remember reading Hosea where the Lord brings you into the desert and that is where He speaks to us tenderly there. Sometimes we need those desert experiences before we can be tuned in to hear God more clearly.

"I WILL LEAD HER INTO THE DESERT AND SPEAK TENDERLY TO HER." HOS. 2:14

Notice that God “leads” us into those desert experiences and that is when our hearts are softened and we can hear Him more clearly than ever before. I think of the most tender times with God and it was always when I was the most broken. God leads, we follow and He will speak tenderly! I am so grateful that God can bring good thing out of the toughest of times. God will minister to us in the desert as well as use it to implement His plan!

Question: Are you in the desert? Can you see God's plan in the midst of the the circumstances that are surrounding you?

Crossroads of Life

 

Ruth 1:16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
 This story is about loyalty in the toughest of times. What do you do when everything seems to be lost? What Ruth decided to do was to stay with Naomi, the mother of her deceased husband. She could not leave her and she felt this deep sense of love and loyalty, even loyalty that overrides her own needs. She could have gone back to her old way of life, to her home town and sought a husband to have a new life. The choice was hers and yet here it was, she was to go ahead and to make sure that her husband’s mother was going to be taken care of. Naomi was in despair and without hope, as you can see in this chapter. Ruth decides to stay, minister to her mother in law and take care of her. This is the greatest story about loyalty and love. But, it is also a great story about how at times in our lives, when we come to a defining moment in our lives, which path do we choose. This is where the road splits into two, one path to the right and the other to the left. Which way do we go? The consequence of our choices will determine our entire lives. When we look at the spiritual side, Ruth would have gone back to the “other gods” of her homeland, but when she decided to go with Naomi, she decided to choose the one God, the God of Naomi. This was the defining moment in her life and her life will change forever. Defining moments come around quite infrequently. When they do, we need to  seek guidance from the Lord and to which path to take. Regardless of how we would feel, which is the way the Lord wants us to go. It is not about satisfying ourselves and putting ourselves first, but it may mean a sacrifice at the time. We need to ask ourselves, “what is the right thing, the honorable thing, the thing that God wants me to do?”. For God knows the path He wants us to choose and he has our whole future decided upon from this. May we make those right decisions based on God’s Will for our lives and be like Ruth, who followed loyalty over self.
Question: Are you at the crossroads of your life and not sure which path to take?

Reverse the Curse

"The king’s edict granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves; to destroy, kill and annihilate the armed men of any nationality or province who might attack them and their women and children,[b] and to plunder the property of their enemies. The day appointed for the Jews to do this in all the provinces of King Xerxes was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar.  A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies." Esther 8:11-13

As I was reading through the book of Esther, I got to Chapter 8 and realized something about God and His plans in our lives. What happened in Esther was that  the King had issued a decree to kill all the Jews. Once this decree went out, it could not be cancelled - but there was a way around it. This was to issue another decree that stated that the Jews were ALLOWED to protect themselves against any attack and that they also were allowed to plunder the property of those that attacked them. This is really cool, for this decree, basically makes the first decree invalid. No one would attack a Jew, knowing that they had the right to fight back and claim all property.  There always seems to be a way around an impossible task. God was in control of this whole situation from the beginning. The Jews didn’t see the whole picture but God had everything under control and He worked it out for His good. But what did it look like from the human perspective? It looked like the situation was impossible. What made the difference? FASTING AND PRAYER. Sometimes when we are in what we may think of as impossible situations, we need to remember that God always has a plan B. Who would have thought that the curse could be reversed? It seemed impossible that once an order was given, it could not be withdrawn. But there WAS another way. What kind is situation are you in today? Does it seem impossible? Is there no way out when you look at it with your human perception? Is it a job situation? Is it a failed marriage? Is it finances? We can be up against a wall and see no way out, but God has a way out and always has a way for the curse to be reversed. I am grateful to know that no matter what impossible situation I may face,  God always has an alternate solution to the problem. We need to do our part by fasting and praying, then God does His part. We are in partnership with Him and He delights when we come to Him in prayer and lay all of our cares and worries at His feet and trust Him that He is going to get us through those tough times. 
Question: Are you facing an impossible situation? Do you think there is no way out?

Accept or Reject

“One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:39-43

 it is important to remember that there were three men on crosses that terrible day. There was Jesus and two other men that were guilty, and only Jesus was not guilty. So let us look at that scenario. Two men in the presence of Jesus in the midst of pain and suffering. They both had the same choice. They could either accept or reject Jesus. It is the same today, everyone is given that same choice, do you want eternal life or do you want eternal death. The choice is up to the individual. Jesus was there, he was present is their suffering and only one chose to acknowledge that Jesus was Lord and all he wanted was to be remembered in God’s Kingdom. Jesus saw his heart and told him that he would be with him in paradise. Good choice. Now the other man is a different story. It is a story of a man that was full of bitterness and resentment. Even at the end of his life, he choice to take that to the grave with him. Two men on a cross and two different decisions that would make a difference in where they would spend eternity. Do we want others to perish? Do we want to see those that have this gift of eternal life, die and not be able to spend eternity in paradise with Jesus? This is the good news that we need to carry out to others to let them know, it is a decision that will carry them into eternity.

Question: What can you do today, to share the Good News with others?

Don't Worry, Be Happy!

"Then, turning to his disciples, Jesus said, “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food to eat or enough clothes to wear. For life is more than food, and your body more than clothing. Look at the ravens. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for God feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than any birds! Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And if worry can’t accomplish a little thing like that, what’s the use of worrying over bigger things?" Luke 12:22-26
 “No worries” is an expression that we often hear! Or, “Don't Worry, Be Happy!” was a song by Bobby McFarrin that summed it up too. So easy to be said, but Jesus was the originator of this. Just as in Luke 12:22-26, Jesus tells us to not worry about things in life for what will it do for you? It does nothing for you. God provides everything that you need, so why even go there to that place of worry? The verse that sums it all up is verse 25, “Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?” So true! Worrying gets you nowhere. I think of the people that are in Hospice right now and they would give everything they have to be in our shoes...they would be happy to take your worry right now and trade place with you. All those worries about getting the cookies baked, gifts wrapped, cards sent out, shopping done, finding parking places in malls, the patients in Hospice would take it all for you because they have lost everything and they are now in the last moments of their life and all of those worries are meaningless. We need to be at that same place as them. What really matters? What is it that counts in our life right now? It is our relationship with God and the relationships with others. As Jesus summed it up, we are to do two things, LOVE GOD AND LOVE OTHERS. That is what is important. So, may I encourage you, to focus today on what is really important and get your priorities straight. May all of our eyes be on Jesus and celebrate the blessings that we have today.

Transition in Our Lives

"Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way:  Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together.  “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing." John 21:1-3

Can you imagine what Peter was feeling after the death of Jesus? Can you think about the difficulty it was to loose the “teacher” and beloved friend? They traveled, they were discipled, they ministered, they were all in a close relationship with Jesus  and then came the day when Jesus was gone. Everything changed. Life was not the same anymore. Life had turned up side down. Now what? What do you do when life as you know, suddenly changes and you are forced with the "now what?"  Well, what often happens, we may go back to the old and familiar way of doing things just like Peter, whom goes back to what he knows, the former life, the life of a fisherman. He goes to the default – fishing. That was the old life and with the transition of having this new life, he goes back to the old ways. We too can be like that. Our lives change. It may be the death of a spouse, moving to a new city, broken relationships, changing jobs – it could be any time in our lives when we are in transition. What would be the most common thing for us to do? It would be to want to go back to our old familiar ways. That is taking a step backward, to go to the “comfort zone” instead of moving ahead. It was a time for the disciples to not go back to their old life, as it was before Jesus. It was to move foreward in God’s Kingdom to another unknown but to move forward using all they learned with Jesus, then minister to others. It could be grief, it could be discouragement, it could be any of those emotions that could propel us to go backward to the “old ways”. We are to see these transitional times as opportunities to move forward into a new chapter of our lives. Let us build upon the old and not return to the foundation. Jesus had a better plan and that was like in Matthew 28 where he tells the disciples to “go” and to tell others the good news. Notice that Jesus did not tell them to go back to their old lives and live in complacency. That would mean that everything they learned and experienced was not to be used. It is like taking a class on how to use the Word Document on your computer and you know how to use it and apply it. Then as you finish the class, you go back to using a manual typewriter because it was familiar to you. This is a lesson we need to learn as it applies to our own lives. We are not to go back to our “old ways” and become complacient. We are to always move forward and keep doing God’s work, even when it is not familiar and we are in transitions of our lives. Let us not settle for the familiar but begin to always strive for newness and doing things built on our experiences with Jesus. In Hawaii, there is the saying, “Imua”, which means to “move forward”. That sums it up. We are to move forward and not go backward. Let’s learn this lesson from Peter.It was a good reminder for me today, not to stick to the old familiar ways, the old behavior patterns, the old mind sets and the comfortable way of doing things that were familiar. We are to take off those old comfortable shoes and put on new ones that may take awhile to wear in, but they are new and they are going to last. We need to always be improving and learning – so we can endure and finish the race! Imua!
Question: Are you in transition and want to go back to the "old and familiar"?