As humans we often describe ourselves as having a hole inside. That can mean different things for different people, but many still have the hole. And as people we do all we can think to do; we find a way to plug the hole. We plug it with entertainment, food, friends, even family. And it plugs up happily. Except… Just like wet sand to fill a gap in a wall, these small fixes -no matter how hard we try to make them stick- crumble and fall away. We need the right mixture to create concrete to repair the hole for good.
Friends and family are a good start, but to make the mixture complete we need Jesus. We need Jesus or else everything will fall apart. If we lack God our hole will eat everything it sees and fill up with nothing but darkness, hurting those around us. We all have a hole, except those of us who have Jesus because our hole has been filled by His perfect and unfailing concrete solution. We are whole through Christ.
I pray your hole is also filled by Him.
You may say that you still feel hollow even with God. Many do. Why? I once heard it said that Jesus fills our gaps but only the ones we let Him fill. If you still feel empty take a good look and see if your emptiness is something that you simply haven’t given over to Christ.
Fill up your soul with Jesus.
Category: Devotional
No God, that is the way it’s written.
God was walking through His Church one day and decided to ask people about their favorite Bible verses and why they liked them. It wasn’t that He didn’t already know the answer, just that He wanted to have His people tell Him themselves. God smiled as He spoke with different people and saw the mix of emotions on their faces as they explained why their favorite verse was their favorite. Out of the corner of God’s eye He spotted a man that He knew was simply there to put in his necessary hour of Church before going on with his week. God smiled sadly and went over to the man.
“Hello my child,” God said as He approached. The man bristled and nodded a greeting. God tried again, “how have you been? I’ve not heard from you lately.”
The man shrugged and mumbled that he was fine.
God smiled, “tell me, what is your favorite scripture?” God knew, but wanted an opening to discuss it with the man.
Irritated the man looked at God, “I can do all things. That’s my favorite verse.”
God tilted His head, “go on.”
“What?” The man growled.
“Go on and finish the verse.”
“That is the verse.”
God shook His head, “you’re missing part of it.”
“No I’m not! That’s how it’s written!”
The argument began to draw attention, embarrassed, the man walked away and left the building.
Back in his own house the man sat with his arms crossed, still angry about earlier. Suddenly his couch dipped down as another body sat on it. The man looked to see God sitting next to him. Startled, the man exclaimed, “what are you doing here! Don’t you have a Church to lead?”
God smiled, “but you are here.”
“So what? I’m just one person.”
God nodded, “but you are the one who needs me most right now.”
The man scowled, “why was I wrong about the scripture earlier? I quoted it right.”
“Yes, but you left out the most important part.
‘I can do all things, through Christ who gives me strength- Phillipians 4:13.
You left me out of the verse, just as you’ve left me out of your life.”
The man un-crossed his arms and looked at his shoes, “I was wrong God. I can’t do all things on my own.”
God put both arms around the man and drew him into a deep hug, “but you have me my son. You never need to do things on your own. Just trust me.”
Thankful on thanksgiving?
Thanksgiving
The leaves float down in the subtle breeze as their brothers and sisters await them on the ground. Overhead the leaves that are hanging on clap against eachother as though they are applauding the day, their applause has grown quieter over the days as more and more have fallen but the remainders still clap on, still thankful for the days given them. Do we applaud God for the days given to us? Do we praise him for what he graces us? Have you thanked him yet today for the cross? Have I?
“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”-LUKE 19:40
Even if we don’t praise God and acknowledge all he has done the rocks beneath our feet will cry out and tell of His goodness and amazing power! On this thanksgiving let us give thanks to God for all he has done.
Pray: thank you Father for your goodness, for your power, for your kindness and generosity. Thank you for Jesus and for his sacrifice for us. Thank you for leaving the Holy Spirit with us. Thank you God, for your abounding love. Amen.
Let me be in covenant with you
I have mentioned before that one of my favorite movies is Ben-Hur. The old version. Does anyone recall what causes one of the big turning points of the movie? Right, Juda saves the Roman officer who in-turn makes him his son and gifts him his ring as a sign of his covenant with him. Suddenly the man goes from slave to master and his whole world changes. In the same way, when Johnathan-Saul’s son-meets David he takes off his cloak and ring and bestows them upon David, acknowledging him as the man worthy to be the next king. Johnathan was ten years older than David and the rightful successor of Saul, so to willingly relinquish the throne was an act of true respect, and also (I feel) the act of a true ruler. He saw that David was full of God and that God had chosen him to take the throne, for the good of the people Johnathan gave away his birthright because he knew that David was the one who would lead Isreal the right way, only a true king would give up his throne for the good of the nation. Unlike Johnathan, Jesus was always the one we needed and no other could take His place; but like Johnathan, Jesus gave up His throne (temperarily) for the good of His people. Jesus also gave up his birthright. He had the right to be the only child of God, no adopted sons and daughters were necassary for the kingdom to continue, we orphans were never something that God needed in His kingdom, but because He loves us He sent His only son, the only child that He had, to save us, to die for us and to make a way so we could be truly part of the King’s family. He gave us His cloak and Ring and let us live with Him in glory. That is the love of a true king. Like Juda Ben-Hur, we were once slaves and now are inheritors of the kingdom. Like David, we were unworthy in the eyes of the world, but are accepted by the Prince and the King to be children in the kingdom. Let that sink in, and in your own words, thank God for all He has done. Oh how great the Father’s love for us.
Heart-lost
I may be afraid of my situation, But I am more afraid of losing heart in all this.-N
Fear. What an odd word. It’s one syllable, four letters, and has several contexts that it can be put into. Even though ‘fear’ is such a small word, it is a huge emotion. I once heard pain be refered to as the obliterator, because it takes away everything else. Pain and fear have the same result, they take away everything else. Fear clogs your senses, takes over your heart and mind until you have nothing else to give. Fear causes us to lose heart. Once we lose heart everything else slips along with it, our passion, our courage, our joy. Jesus said, “Take heart, for I have overcome the world.” Because He knew that human hearts were weak and we could easily lose ourselves in our fear. But Jesus has overcome fear and doubt, and when our hearts are in Him, we cannot lose hope.
Fold your hands
Fold your hands.
Sit quietly.
Pray silently.
Keep it all in and don’t bother God with your pain.
How many “religious” people claim this to be how we must act with our all powerful God? Too many.
Fold your hands, close your eyes, listen to the pastor, but don’t ever bother God. Don’t cry to Him, don’t be angry in His presence, don’t mumble about your fear. Pray. Quietly.
That’s not who God is. God wants the real us. The tear drenched, heart shattered, screaming at the top of our lungs, us. The hurt and angry; just needing someone to talk to; someone to make it right, us. The too afraid to let our voices be heard aloud, us. Sometimes we need to pace and sweat and rip our souls apart when we pray; and that’s okay. Sometimes we don’t have words, just feelings, God understands still. Sometimes we laugh and smile as we talk to God; or get lost in song, and that’s fine too. God wants US. Our messes and failures, our victories and triumphs, He wants it all. Just pray- Don’t worry what it sounds like.
Image is ‘Worn out at eternity’s gate’ by Van-Gogh
Do all to the glory of God?
To do all to the glory of God sounds… difficult. How do we brush our teeth to God’s glory? Or wash the laundry? Or…ugh….do the dishes?
I once heard a pastor answer this question in the only way that actually makes sense.
‘Do all to the glory of God means to do all as if you were doing it with God. Do it all enthusiastically -if possible- and do it without grumbling.’
There is so much that feels like too much work, but if we are doing it with God than He will make our task easier. Perhaps not physically- but mentally, because we aren’t doing our task alone.
Today I was removing a tree branch that was over our driveway and scraped the roof of our vehicles. I set up a chair and got my hack saw rolling. I didn’t have a chain saw with me and was making do. It was a hard and tedious task but I felt joy in knowing that God was standing behind me, tugging back and forth on the saw as I did. My dog paced the base of the chair and looked at me, incredulous eyes burning with the question, “are you nuts!” Yes. Standing on a chair with a saw to remove a branch was stupid, even my dog could see it was unsafe. But I was fine because God helped me. And guess what? I failed. The branch didn’t budge. It was too thick to take off manually. God is always with you, helping you and guiding you, that doesn’t mean you will always succeed, sometimes it is just not possible for what you want to work out. Don’t worry. God will help you find a new solution. And because I did my best with a good attutude, I had fun trying.
Do all, to the glory of God.
Mean girls and bad boys
Mean girls and bad boys
Late for class, last bell rings, dead run for her locker. She throws her bag into the steel trap and dashes past the others who are still in the hall. “Loser.” “Trash.” ‘Whatever.’ She just needs to get to her seat. She slides behind her desk. Peanut butter on the chair. ‘Nice.’ The girls behind her laugh. She sighs. Class ends and she’s on her way back to her locker. An elbow hits her in the side, then two hands shove her against a door. She’s had enough! She shoves back. The other girl lands on the floor. Teacher sees. “You! Stay after school!” Parents are called in, she has detention and a new nick name, Mean Girl.
The boys gather around the new kid. He’s shy and stares at his shoes. “You have to be cool if you are going to hang with us.” He’s heard those words before, that’s why he transferred. He shakes his head and is shoved against the wall, “Don’t be such a wimp!” He chokes a groan back and nods. The other boys look triumphant. What makes them look cool at this new school? The old school it was alcohol, the one before that was drugs, this one? The next thing he knows his locker is full of pirated video games, and he is very cool in the eyes of his new ‘friends.’ Until they get caught. Short term in Juvenile Correction facilities and he’s back in class. One of his old ‘friends’ leans over to another kid and whispers, “stay away from him, he’s bad news.”
Life can be drastically unfair. Don’t judge a person by the unfair labels that have been stamped on them by the hypocrites around you; See for yourself what they are like. Jesus has called and still calls all kinds of people, not just those who don’t get caught doing wrong, and thankfully He sees everything and knows who’s truly at fault. If you have ever been wrongly labeled and judged, know that Jesus sees the truth and He will take up positions to defend you.
You don’t know what God is doing behind the scenes, so never give up and never stop striving. Don’t let fear stop you from seeing God’s great gifts for you. I know first hand that staring your dragons in the eye can feel catastrophic; your body begins to reject your decision causing your internal organs to protest and your muscles to feel like jelly, and then your mind seems to second guess your heart, next thing you know you are being throw into the mouth of a giant whale by the other people in the boat. Because when God has a purpose for you, it won’t be easy. You will fight and claw your way through every moment some days, but that isn’t reason enough to not follow God’s plan. You will never be the hero of your story if you aren’t willing to fight. The best thing about your story being the fact that Jesus has already won the war, your battle is just a fight for one small part of your life, the eternal battle has been waged already, just don’t let the enemy have your part of the kingdom, Don’t give up! Jesus has planned everything for you and you will win this because He is fighting along side you!
I’ve got your back
We are a church family and our family is holding up our hands. When we grow weary and can’t keep praying, others are praying for us in our stead. That’s why God has given us so many people in our Church community. Even if you watch Church online and don’t attend a service physically at this time, most churches have a prayer request section, you are never alone. Even if you have no connection to a church at all right now, Jesus is praying for you and with you. We are many so that when one falls we can lift them up until they can stand on their own again. That is the body of Christ.
Carried in the cross 