Category: encouragement

The body- part 5
Christianity · Devotional · dreams do come true · encouragement · free · guidance · Jesus · lent

The body- part 5

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‭‭2 Corinthians 4:10 NIV‬‬
[10] We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.

We don’t think of carrying death around in our bodies. If we do have death in us then we usually show signs. Drawn and pasty skin. Black circles under our eyes. Thin hair, a limp. It takes the form of many physical reactions. Disease always does. I think of my close friend who had liver disease. He was always sickly, skinny and couldn’t put on any weight. It was a result of his disease. I think of others I know who have diseases and you can sometimes see it in her eyes and the way she moves that she’s having a bad day with it.
Disease doesn’t always mean death, I’m just using it as an example.
Carrying the death of Christ in our bodies is very different. It’s a death that brings life.
But like the death of the human body, of the death of Christ is in us then we should show signs. We try a little harder than others, we care for others even if we want to hate them. We speak the Bible, we pray, we forgive, we show patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self control. We live as reflections of love, when we don’t feel it. Joy, when we think it’s escaped us. And peace, when the world is entropy. If we live in the death of Christ there will be signs. Our whole purpose is that others may see Jesus in us and aim to be like Him themselves.

The body- part 4
Christianity · Devotional · encouragement · free · guidance · Jesus · lent

The body- part 4

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1 Corinthians 27
[27] Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

A body is a crazy machine.
If man makes an automaton it has several intricate parts to make it functional, and even then it can generally do one thing, maybe two.
The human body is far more complicated then anything any of us could make. Now think of each of us as we are. Break down I’m your mind the human system, not just the foot bone connects to the ankle bone song, think about the cells, the enzymes, the tubes, the oragns, the electric currents. All of it needs to function together, with some parts, if something isn’t doing its job or can’t, other parts step up and take the load.
That’s the body of Christ. We each have a specific job. We are individually important for the whole system to work. And in some cases, when one of us falls down, others step up to help us carry the load. No part of us is useless. All of us is valued. We can serve God and go forward in faith. Each of us in our own way. Our pathway might look very different from those around us, but that is our function. God made us who we are and able to do what we can do for a reason. We are the body of Christ.

The body – part 3
Christianity · Devotional · encouragement · Jesus · lent · Prayer · searching

The body – part 3

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‭‭1 Corinthians 15:37-38 NIV‬‬
[37] When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. [38] But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.

We are amidst farmers here in my town of Souris. It’s funny because I lived in the city all my life before moving here, so when the farmers spoke about pretty much anything, I was lost. Now I understand much of what is said and can hold a general conversation on the plants, fields, livestock and crops.
I love watching harvest happen. We (my dog and I) sit in the living room and watch the lights of the machines on the fields around us. Often they are there until early in the morning, because planting needs to happen at a specific time depending on what you are sowing. I have never, Ever, Seen a farmer drive off his field and leave behind a full stock of grown crops. No, he leaves and his field looks like it did before, just turned up. It takes time and patience before we see the first signs of life in the seeds that were planted. Little, generally green, lines of thin organic material peeks out through the soil. It really is a miracle every time a crop is harvested and there is actually something there to harvest. These baby shoots are so small that an ant literally causes them to bend. God destined baby shoot to grow, so grow it does. It’s always a game at my place to try and figure out what plant will come to be from that shoot. Usually it’s wheat. Sometimes it’s canola, once it was flax, once it was sunflowers and last year to everyone’s surprise, it was beans. Beans hurt when you walk through them by the way. The have a fuzzy shell, but prickly stock. Why? God made them that way.

We plant seeds everyday. We also water seeds everyday. Sometimes we pull out weeds. It’s all in how we are to people. Do we shower them with Jesus and water a good seed while plucking a weed out? Or do we treat them the way the world does, planting more weeds and holding back the sun?
We are all planted seeds growing through the soil. We don’t know what God has destined us to be until He permits us to grow leaves, then we have a guess. Someday we will flower and then we will know, and so will the world, what sort of plant we are. Did we grow as flowers in God’s garden? Or did we grow as nettles in the ground of the world?
What sort of plant are we? Are we artists? Teachers? Musicians? Ditch diggers? Farmers?
Most importantly. How do we use what we are to bless God’s kingdom?
How are you growing? What are you growing into?

Christianity · Devotional · encouragement · Jesus · lent · no longer lost · power of God · searching · still fighting
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1 Corinthians 6:20 NIV‬‬
[20] you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

I have enjoyed many novels that are historical fiction based on the open sea. Many of which cover a big thing back then. Slavery. No, not the kind Martin Luther King was against, on the ocean, depending on where you were from and what station you were in slavery was a thing that didn’t hold to just one race or color, anyone could be a slave. If you were in the wrong place at the wrong time and were grabbed, if you belonged to a poor family who sold you, if you were willing to sell yourself because you had no where to go and no money, and so on. Slavery was just common place. Your value as a slave, your price, depended on a few different things, depending on where you were headed. Good looks helped, a strong build, healthy teeth sometimes, if you had a special talent or skill. The better your quality the higher the price.

Now imagine. There you are standing before the block. The slave master close at hand flexing his powerful shoulders and waiting with a bored look. He was once a slave too, but he bought himself out. Yet, he still had to serve his old masters, so freedom was not his possession. You look down the line cautiously. It’s a scraggly bunch. Some strong and young, some bent, some wounded, some with limps or disabilities. You look up the line. The clever, attractive and healthy slaves were selling fast and to good jobs. The ones that looked like you, they sold for next to nothing and went to the one week jobs, one week because you rarely survived longer than that. It didn’t make a difference to the buyers, your type was cheap, they could always buy more.
Hard hands grab you shoulders and lift you into place as the next to be bid on. You know where you’re going. You know what your worth. Then a soft voice says, “I’ll take that one.” You look up at the hooded figure. A shudder runs through you. What is this feeling? It’s something greater than fear.
The auctioneer pauses, “again? Mr. You should wait until I call a price, you keep on paying too much for these.”
The hood nods. The slave master sighs and lifts you back to the ground and you are shoved into a group.
The next in line is placed on the block, the same soft voice, “I’ll take that one too.”
Finally the head of the outfit steps forward and shouts, “ENOUGH! Let us see some coin before you buy the whole lot with nothing but your own skin. We deal in money here, not delusions!”
The hood nods and the man pulls out a small coin purse. You hold your breath. The purse looks pretty flat to you. You past master takes the one object out of the purse and drops it. He steps back. You strain to see. It’s a gold medallion of some type, there’s an insignia on it, but you can’t make it out. The hood steps forward and unveils his head, you cry out, so do all with you. There stands the King. He steps onto the block and lifts his medallion with his crest upon it. “I purchase them all, including you.” He looks at the slave master, the one who had tried and failed to free himself. The big shoulders shake as he falls to his knees. The owner of the auction and all his people flee. The King touches the slave master’s shoulder, “go, release them all.” The big man jumps to his feet and rushes to free each slave from his or her chains. When he gets to you and takes your bonds in his hands you find that they are shaking, he is crying and smiling, your chains drop as he moves to the next person.
You look at the King and He turns, “you have a question my child?”
Your voice cracks, “Yes your majesty.”
He smiles, “and?”
“Why? Why buy us at all when we were yours to do with as you please?”
“To show you your value, and to set you truly free. I do not rule a land where free will is illegal, due to that people are free, but some choose evil. I have to rectify that evil and to free those captive to it. You are free child. Will you come and serve me in my kingdom?”
“What happens if I say no?”
“Hmm, you will be free to live your life as you choose, but you will he on your own and when the day comes when I take the evil fully from this world and bring my followers to my Kingdom, if you did not choose me, you could not come and would be left behind with all those who will die with this world.”
“It’s my choice?”
“Yes.”
“Then of course I choose you.”
The King smiled. To your shock, many did not go with the King to follow Him that day. They loved belonging to themselves too much to belong to anyone else, even to be taken to the castle as the King’s child.
But you went with Him, and so did the slave master. You went because you were bought with a price beyond your worth, now you would always live to serve the one who set you free.

You were bought with a high price, so serve God with your bodies.

The blood part 5
Christianity · Devotional · encouragement · free · guidance · Jesus · lent · no longer lost · power of God · searching · The Bible

The blood part 5

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1 John 1:7 NIV‬‬
[7] But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
If we walk in the light.
That word IF makes a big difference. If. We have heard it said that Jesus died so we are all saved. But that is almost too broad of a statement. What the fact is, we have the chance to be saved by coming to Him and turning our lives over to Him. We are not simply saved because Jesus died. That sounds wrong, I know, but people talk as though they are saved but have never accepted Jesus as their savior. They have never taken the time to say, “Jesus. I know I am a sinner, but I know that through your death on the cross I have been set free. Please come into my life and change me to be like you. Forgive me for my sins and set me free from them. I want you Jesus. Thank you for loving me.”
Something similar. We have to ask Jesus to come into our lives. It’s not an, “ya, I believe in Jesus so I’m saved” thing. We need to ask Him to come and forgive us for our sins and to come into our hearts and minds. Only then are we saved. After that we must work to live in the light. You may say, “we don’t get to Heaven through works, only through grace.”
Okay. Let us open that one up.
No works will ever be enough to make us worthy of God, only His grace us enough for us to be pardoned unto Him. However, once we are reconciled to God we need to live accordingly. You say, “that sounds a lot like the Law instead of Jesus.” Yes. Because Jesus Himself said that He did not come to demolish the Law. The rituals and the things that were cultural instead of Biblical He did speak against, yet the rules pf the Bible still apply. If anything, Jesus made things even more strict, please reference the sermon on the mount where now holding hatred to your brother is the same as killing him. Ya, that’s definitely easier than simply not killing him no matter how you feel. It’s a narrow path that leads to Heaven. Living in sync with the scripture is hard and sometimes is certainly not fun. Please recall that in the OT we were permitted to hate our enemies and now we can’t. Jesus didn’t throw away the Law, but He also knew that we couldn’t make it on the Law alone, we needed a savior. We were going to screw up. We do everyday. That’s why we need God’s grace. But once we are accepted into Jesus’s family through His blood, then we need to live as children of the light. You can’t reach Heaven by simply being a good person, you need to have accepted Jesus. But you also can’t be truly part of God’s family if you live as a bad person.
If we walk in the light, as He is in the light. But we only get to the light through the blood of Christ.

The blood part 4
Christianity · Devotional · encouragement · free · Jesus · lent · Love · no longer lost · True Joy

The blood part 4

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Hebrews 10:19 NIV‬‬
[19] Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,

Take me in to the Holy of Holies. Take me in by the blood of the Lamb. Take me in to the holy of Holies. Take the coal, cleanse my lips, here I am. -Petra

I love this verse and this song. Take me past the outer courts and the worshipers and those laying down their crowns, take me past the big party and the table filled with food. Take me past the band. Past the alter. Past the sanctuary doors. Take me into Jesus’s arms.
What does Heaven mean to you?
When I was child I thought like a child and heaven was a playground where we would always have fun.
When my Nana died, what Heaven meant to me was a place where I could be with her.
Later it became the pleasant thought of a place with no disease.
Then a place with no crime.
Then a place with no war.
It was not until I was young adult and had was listening to either Theocracy or disciple – I don’t recall which- that I suddenly started thinking of Heaven the way it should be thought of. It’s preached about like a big party. It’s presented as a place where all your dreams come true. But the importance of Heaven isn’t what it gives you, or the pain it takes away, it’s not even the fact that your loved ones are there; Heaven is important because Jesus is there. Physically.
It was one of the Bands I previously mentioned that made me think of this. Of course I always knew that Jesus would be there and that that was one of the big draws, but we don’t think of that as being the most important thing. And that’s ridiculous. It was one of these bands, who said in their music;” Even Heaven would be hell, if by some mistake Jesus wasn’t there.”
It’s not about the party. It’s about being with Jesus. Take me past it all so I can see His face. We now can enter the Most Holy of Holies where God sits, because Jesus died for us. His blood is our wrist band to get in. His blood makes it so we can run to Him and hug Him close. His blood sets us apart as VIPs so we can come into His presence. And His blood is available for everyone who asks for forgiveness of their sins and asks Jesus into their hearts. Because of His sacrifice we get to be with Him. I am covered by the blood of the Lamb.
Take me in, all I want is to see Jesus.

The blood, part 2
Christianity · Devotional · encouragement · free · guidance · Jesus · lent · Love · power of God · still fighting · The Bible

The blood, part 2

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Hebrews 9:20-26 NIV‬‬
[20] He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.” [21] In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. [22] In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. [23] It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. [24] For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. [25] Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. [26] Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.
[28] so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
I wanted to start with this verse because it sums it all up. It sums up the difference it made to have Jesus come, it sums up the way it effected the church and the way things were done, it sums up the importance of the blood being spilled. Billy Graham once said that people want to avoid the cross because they are offended by the blood. It bothers them. Not just because it shows them their sins, but because blood itself is offensive. So people do away with the blood and gore of the cross and try and make it lovely and reverent, where in fact it was gruesome and vile. The only thing that makes the cross anything but horrible and gross is Jesus’s blood on it. This makes me think of the story of the three trees. The one became a small fishing boat, the other the Manger and the last one became the cross. All had big dreams and goals. All thought their drrams had been destroyed by what they had been carved into. All were proven to be of high value because Jesus was part of them. Two had happy connections to Jesus. One had the worst connection possible, and yet it was the most necessary one out of the three. Jesus’s sacrifice is what makes the cross something to love and strive after. If Jesus had died any other way, the cross wouldn’t matter, it’s because HE died on the cross that it is special and valued and important. We are like the cross. Only through Jesus’s blood on us and His Holy Spirit in us are we special and valued. He values us. We who beat Him and mocked Him and killed Him. Only through Him are we worth anything. He is the final sacrifice. His blood is the only thing pure enough to wash us clean. He changed everything, because we just weren’t getting it. The Law had been put there to help us and guide us but we were missing it. We weren’t able to keep up with it, many ignored it, some had contorted it and we needed an answer, someone to give us more than the rules, someone who would make it so we could be forgiven when we fell short of the rules. We needed Jesus. We still do.
‭‭

The blood part 1
Christianity · Devotional · encouragement · free · Jesus · lent · Love · power of God · Prayer · searching · still fighting · The Bible

The blood part 1

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‭‭Hebrews 9:14 NIV‬‬
[14] How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
Sacrifice. It’s something we hate as people.
We love it when someone sacrifices for us, but we don’t enjoy doing it for others unless we really love them. Jesus really loves us. We remind ourselves of that over and over and over again. But it’s hard to remember. We talk of God’s love and we seek to feel His heart close to us, but in no time at all we forget all He did for us and why. Because of that sacrifice we are no longer required to give God blood, but now are to give Him our hearts and to serve Him as living sacrifices, this is a privilege even if we don’t see it as one. We get to be clean before God because we are seen through the lense of Jesus’s blood. IF. We have given our lives to Him. Now our sacrifice looks like avoiding sin. Helping others. Obeying God’s laws. Sharing Jesus with others. Gifts to God because He gave us the greatest gift of all through Jesus. How much more than the sacrifices we give to God, will the sacrifice His son Jesus be in His eyes. Our gifts are like a sprinkling of sand in the desert. Yet God still loves our offerings because He loves us. We come to God broken, sinful and some days even insincere, and  we lay our dirty, blemished offerings before Him. And He accepts them and loves us. Like a child who brings a sculpture of mud to her mom and the mother smiles and takes and says its beautiful, because she loves the heart of the child who made it. That’s what our offerings to God looks like. And His love of us and His love of what we do for Him makes our mud beautiful.
If our dirty offerings can be seen as beautiful. Imagine how much more so the spotless, blameless, pure sacrifice of Jesus is to God. Beautiful beyond compare. The only truly worthy sacrifice.
Cleanse us Jesus from actions that lead to death, so that we may serve the LIVING God!

Feet part 6
Christianity · Devotional · encouragement · free · guidance · Jesus · lent

Feet part 6

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‭‭Psalms 26:12 NIV‬‬
[12] My feet stand on level ground; in the great congregation I will praise the Lord.

Level ground is an interesting expression. It can mean that you stand in righteousness. It can mean you stand in safety. It can mean you stand in place of discernment.
I feel David meant that he stood in safety when he said he stood on level ground. It’s like hiking. During the summer my family and I went to Port Renfrew in BC. My dad, Phallen (my dog) and I hiked down to the beach there. And when I say hiked, I mean there were moments I wished for a guideline to help me get back up the mountain. Phallen was fine, he trudged along like a tropper. But I was bent over trying to keep my balance, the difference between two legs and four I guess. At one point the trail leveled off for a bit. It felt like I had taken lead weights out of my shoes when I hit that level path. I finally could catch my breath. That’s what standing on level ground feels like. Rest. Peace. A weight being lifted. When you stand on level ground you are stable. When Jesus puts you on level ground, you are safe.
And then to stand on that level ground and praise the Lord. You stand in the safety of His presence and have the privilege to praise Him. The Great Congregation sounds like Heaven to me. The congregation of Heavenly hosts singing praises to God, standing in safety in His presence. I love that a warrior like David was also someone who longed to stand and sing praises to God in a Heavenly choir. Not many warriors are depicted like that. Yet, I think of the old stories. Knights riding into battle with a herald going before them, sometimes singing songs of their victories. How would the song of Jesus’s victories have gone?
He evaded Herod’s seekers, men who sought His life.
His family fled in secret, hidden by the night.
He taught at twelve in the Temple and have His mom a fright.
But He knew He must be with His father, and of course He was right.
He called twelve men to join Him when He was fully grown. He was baptized by the baptist and a dove came down from Heaven’s throne.
He healed the sick and cast out demons, He even raised the dead. But the leaders feared His power so they called for His head.
He stood bold before Pilot, no shame was on His face. For He stood there not for His own deeds, but instead for my disgrace.
He was beaten and mocked by those He loved, they spit upon His face.
He carried His cross up the hill of the skull and died in my place.
Three days went by and the tomb stood shut, but there was work happening behind the scenes. Jesus took the keys of death and set the captives free.
Then He appeared before His friends and showed them His hands, feet and side. They were surprised but shouldn’t have been, He had told them He would rise.
Now He waits in Heaven’s throne, for the day He will bring us home.
For now we are His hands and feet, to show this world His love and carry on His deeds. We will preach His word! We will pray for those in need! We will walk in His foot steps! Because we follow where He leads.

I would say a list of accomplishments like that would send His enemies running. But it’s not just some story. He really did all those things and so many more. And He really is coming back for us some day. So for now, let us follow in His footsteps, until at last we see Him face to face again.

Feet part 5
Christianity · Devotional · encouragement · Jesus · lent · power of God · still fighting

Feet part 5

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2 Samuel 22:10-11 NIV‬‬
[10] He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet. [11] He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind.
[17] “He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. [18] He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.
This is one of my favorite verses. I only used part because it’s a long one. Here in 2 Samuel we here the prophet speaking on God’s vengeance for His people. David also quoted this text, the whole thing. Every. Last. Word. That shows how loved this verse was.
We don’t often think of God as vengeful. He’s the guy who tells us to love right? Right. But He also says that vengeance is His. The world that accepts that God is real has a big portion of it that feels like God is all daisy chains and sunbeams. But He is the one true King. Lord of all. A King is always a warrior if He is to be a good king. Loving and benevolent, yes. But powerful and fierce too.
I love that God mounts the cheribem and rides out against our foes with fire coming from His nostrils. So. Cool! I also wonder if we envision the cheribem wrong. If they can be ridden then the human bodies we put on them is probably not accurate. However, that is a topic for a scolar and we will move on.
We often feel like our enemies will win. We get to a place where we feel like we will always be under the thumb of those who oppose us. Yet that is not true. God comes to our aid wearing dark clouds on His feet and riding powerful angelic creatures. He knows the name of our true enemy and will throw the evil one, someday, into the lake of fire. We not see those who strike us and mock us be struck down, but the evil spirit that causes the behavior of our enemies will be destroyed. God will lift us up in His hand and save us from our enemies! Just hold on and wait to see the dark clouds roll in, the ones God’s feet stand upon. The pain won’t last. The evil won’t last. God will avenge and save us.