1 Thessalonians 5:18-19 ESV
[18] give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. [19] Do not quench the Spirit.
Thankfulness isn’t always about being happy. It’s not always a time of rejoicing for something good. Sometimes, being thankful is simply a breath after you have been holding your breath for a long time. Sometimes, it’s a soft smile after you realize you made it one step further because God has helped you. Sometimes, it’s filled with tears of pain or exhaustion or worry, and you simply cry out with a deviance against the circumstance. “Thank you, Jesus! Because greater is He who is in me, than he who is in the world.” Being thankful is a war cry against pain and discouragement. Being thankful is saying, ‘My God will supply!’ When there is nothing on the table. Being Thankful is saying,’The same God who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will get me through this.’ When the waters are rising and you see no way out. Being thankful has nothing to do with circumstance. Being thankful has to do with who Jesus is and who you are within him.
Category: Jesus
Nailing your sins
Those who belong to Christ have nailed their passions and desires of their sinful nature to His cross.’ Galatians 5:24
This verse is very interesting because many will look at it and say. “He’s meaning that our sins are forgiven.” Yes, our sins are nailed to the cross of Christ, but I don’t think that is what Paul meant here. He says ‘those who belong to Christ have nailed their passions and desires of their sinful nature to His cross.’ Galatians 5:24. I take this verse to mean that when we came to Jesus we left our sinful nature behind at the foot of the cross, covered by His blood, never to be acknowledged again. Yes. Our sins are forgiven, but we MUST leave them behind.
Do we seek Him?
The Saints did not often pray for more bounty. For answers and help to their needs. They did pray for these things, but they mostly prayed for more of Jesus. For more of the presence of the savior. Give me more of Jesus. The tractor broke down. They prayed for Jesus’s presence. A bone was broken. They prayed for Jesus to be near. Finances were failing. They prayed for Jesus to show Himself. The Saints prayed mostly for the presence of God and they knew that everything else would fall under His presence. Every need would fall under God just being near. We forget to seek His presence. We forget to look for His face and that everything else falls under being with God. It’s the moment when we want Jesus more than anything else. Even if He does not heal. Even if He does not provide. Even if the brokenness lingers. Do we seek for Jesus? Do we say, “your will God. I know you still have me.”
It’s not about all He does, it’s about who He is. Seek Him and all will fall in place under Him.
Your heart is different
No two hearts are alike. We have to care for each heart through Jesus’s love by caring for the unique heart of the individual person.
This was part of what I got from Pastor Haily tonight. I changed it a little to fit how I could apply this as a person with no kids to raise.
In my Pharmacy technician course I have had to do communication classes. This week we had a quiz on empathy, I failed it. I should also mention that you need 80% to pass, it’s not the 50% pass classes. Here’s the thing. I failed because of what our pastor said tonight. Caring for the individual unique heart. That is empathy. Our textbook has specific answers for each person and each problem that is universal. We are supposed to care for each person as though that person is the exact same as the next. There’s a formula to follow. A set of rules to apply. It’s not true empathy. As Christians we have learned a version of empathy that’s different from the rest of the world. The world has a view of empathy that isn’t actually empathetic. It says. “You do you.” “I’m not judging.” “I’m caring for myself first.” And we call it empathy and caring, but it’s not. Empathy says, “I actually care about you. I care so much that I want to help you. I know you feel like this but.”
We had a casd study. A woman came in with so much heart pain. Not physical. And we had to help her. We were supposed to answer with. ” I’m sorry you feel that way. These things happen. It won’t last forever.”
What I wanted to say was, “honey there is nothing we can do, but have you met Jesus?” How do people move on past pain without Jesus. As Christians we have learned from the one who suffered all to take the suffering of others and try to understand and show them the answers through Jesus. There’s medication. There’s pat answers. But without showing them to the true God who is the only one who can truly help, there is nothing we can do to truly help. We have learned to work at truly caring as Christians, but truly caring means you try to help. Help sometimes looks like praying in your mind. Caring looks like letting the person talk and showing that you are listening. Help looks like guiding to the right answers. Caring looks like guiding to Jesus.
How do you show empathy? In the way of the Christian who lives Jesus, or in the way of the world where they don’t actually care? If you fail the world’s empathy test, maybe that’s because your empathy comes from Jesus and your answers are the right ones. Also. You can’t always empathize. People will speak to you of things you cannot accept and cannot connect with. In those times remember that Jesus is there and you can pray in you heart and is working for those people. Don’t bend to the belief that acceptance of a lifestyle is empathy. A sinful lifestyle is not something you should be accepting of. Those are people you need to pray for. This is not a straight forward topic. Pray and read your Bible and see how God wants you to show love to those around you, without bowing to their beliefs.
How do your bones grow?
I have been nose deep in textbooks lately and that has reduced my time for prayer and Bible reading, which usually ends in these Devotionals. It’s funny though. Even in an anatomy textbook it is easy to see God. Last week we learned all about bones, muscles and the nervous system. (Hang in there. I have a point.) We learned that babies are not formed inside the womb with bones, babies ‘bones’ are cartalidge that slowly fuses together (I won’t go into more detail) to create the strong bones of an adult. That’s why children are more delicate.
Here’s the thing. Yes, that’s amazing, but get this. There’s this verse in Ecclesiastes where God says:
Ecclesiastes 11:5 KJV
[5] As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.
Back then there is no way that they already knew that inside the body of the mother, her baby’s cartilage was fusing together to create bones. Yes I do realize that much of our initial understanding of medicines and chemistry came from the East in the early days, but not this early of early. God speaks to the writer of this book about a concept that the writer would have no way of knowing without a Devine God who told him. Imagine God saying to a person who would have known many things about what was ‘modern medicines in that time and brings up a concept that he couldn’t even fathom. “Grow God? What do you mean, grow?”
Now. Before you say God might have been meaning that the bones would grow in length inside the womb as though I did not understand that. I know they grow longer. Guess why? The cartilage forming together to create an actual bone. You know how doctors say that babies can’t sit up because their spines are not yet fused? This is that. It counts for all bones from the big long bones to the tiny irregular bones. God made it that way so the baby could come out of the mother without harm to it. Now. I don’t think it’s that way with large animals. Puppies and kittens yes, but cows and horses I believe are already semi fused bones, but you would need to ask your vet. Here is my point. God is crazy amazing. He thought of everything! He even scolded a man using medical knowledge years beyond his time. Every detail from the cilia in your lungs to the autonomic beat of your heart, has been planned and counted and cared for. Even in the bad days, God is still I’m charge and knows what He’s doing. Stop doubting Him! He loves you, always. Just copy your parasympathetic nervous system and relax in knowing that Jesus has hold of you, every inch, and He knows what He is doing.
Come as you are
We all speak of come as you are. We speak of it as though it is written right there in the Bible. The thing is. Those words are not exactly there, but the idea is. Come all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Mathew 11:39
Some want to stand and say ‘God does not say that!’ Because we have had people who claim that God does not care what they live like because He says to come as you are. But that is not what God is saying. He is saying come to me and let me change you.
If the leper had chosen to heal himself before going to Jesus He would still be sick.
We cannot heal, clean or save ourselves. Only Jesus can.
Now. Come as you are does not mean ‘stay as you are’. We come to Jesus, not so we feel all good and fluffy, we come to Him because we are broken amd need healing. Because a battle rages within us and we need saving. Because we are lost and we need finding. We come to Jesus so we can be changed. He is the great healer and defender. I feel all of us want to come to Jesus. If you look at what people chase after in this world it is clear that their souls are trying to find their way back to the savior. But the devil gets in the way amd distracts and pulls away those who chase Jesus. He throws shiny things on the ground for us to follow and we forget that true treasures are buried deep and do not simply shine on the surface. It makes me think of a geode. The surface gems are pretty and sometimes quite large, so you spend all your time cleaning them up and polishing them. But under the surface there small gems you must chip away at the stone to reach, small gems that do not sparkle as brightly and harder to reach, but are worth so much more than the large surface gems. Don’t settle for shiny scatterings on the ground, seek for the Treasure that only a few find.
The flame passes on
2 Kings 2:9-11, 15 NIV
[9] When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?” “Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied. [10] “You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah said, “yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise, it will not.” [11] As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.
[15] The company of the prophets from Jericho, who were watching, said, “The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha.” And they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.
There is a song from the 80s that speaks of the flame passing on. Some may not be fully sure what that means. Let me explain. The flame passing on is the mantle passing on, the mantle that God placed upon the heads of his Saints. The mantle of God’s presence of God’s love and of God’s strength. When a saint dies we want their mantle the pass on. Saint does not mean some Heavenly being an Earthly form, saint s those of us who are blessed enough by God to be one of his workers. We all have a mantle that we pass on in a way. But the mantle that God passes is a handcrafted metal of his authority that he is left with us.
Elisha knew what the mantle Eljiah carried was worth. He knew that the Spirit of God resting on the Elijah was the greatest inheritance you could receive. Now. If Elisha had not been worthy in God’s eyes He would not have permitted Elisha to gain the double portion, but Elisha shared a similar love for God as Elijah.
Elijah and Elisha both faced difficult times. Times brought on them because of their mantle. The mantle of God gives you strength and protection, but those in sin will hate seeing you in it and will come after you because of it. Thankfully, in this age we won’t be hunted to death by crazed queens or Pharoahs, but we might have people call us names on the internet. Elijah laughed in the faces of the servants of the devil and taunted them as he watched God bring them to their knees. Do we have that kind of faith? Do we know in our hearts that God will save us from darkness?
We stand in the face of anyone and anything if God stands with us. Do you ask Him to be your strength and mantle? If not, you are fighting a battle alone that you cannot win by yourself. Seek Him. Find Him. Never let go of Him. He is all you need.
When I’m gone
Sorry that it has been awhile since my last Devotional. My grandfather died and we have been very busy getting things together.
His funeral however, was where my inspiration for today came from. What do you want people to say about you after you are gone?
I will tell you what they said about him. He was a friend to strangers (and that caused is trouble on a few occasions 😅) he would serve quietly without being asked. He loved God and knew Him as a friend. He prayed for family, friends and people he never knew with the same fervancy. He loved to work and create but mostly loved to serve Jesus. He gave of himself. In the end. He was the example the Bibles give us on how to live lile Christ.
Not every day. Not every moment. There were plenty of times he was just as human and emotional and led by self as the rest of us. But the times he was like Christ in his actions and words greatly outnumbered the times he was not, so that’s what people remember.
We will never be perfect in our service and walk with God. But are we trying? What do we want others to remember when we are gone? If they think of us and see Jesus in our life then we have truly won the race.
What’s better than the crown? The King who made it for you.
The Queen of England’s crown is worth upward of four billion dollars. It is kept under lock and key when not in use. Imagine something of that value to sit upon your head. And yet, as children of God we are all getting a crown. A crown made by God and filled with jewels that have been earned through our lives. Some crowns will be full of sparkling gems and others will be fairly bare, yet each crown will be worth countless more than the crown that was once worn by our loved Queen. Do you know what the best part is? Crowns filled with jewels and crowns bare to the core will both have one thing in common when we get to Heaven. They will be thrown aside as we run to Jesus. We are all wearing our crowns right now. How we live our lives is adorning our crowns right now. When we get to Heaven we will finally see what they look like, yet instead of being dazzled by their beautiful wealth we will cast them down at the feet of Jesus and reach only for His embrace. How we live our lives matters, but nothing matters more than loving and serving Jesus. Nothing matters more than falling in His arms and hearing Him say, “well done, good and faithful servant.” We get offended by that word ‘servant’. But Jesus served others while He was here, He showed us how to have a servant heart. It’s never easy and some days it hurts, but it’s not offensive, it’s following in the footsteps, and knee prints, of our savior.
You never stand alone
Do not forget that we are an army.
Legions upon Legions of angels stand alongside us, beating their sword on their shields, marching out unafraid.
We have a shield too. As well as a sword.
We match forward in boots and helmet that are a little too big because we are still growing into them, making Jesus smile. He bends down and lifts our visor, looking into our eyes with a huge smile.
Then, as the leader He is, He stoops low and tightens our boot laces before taking our hand and leading us forward. He knows we cannot fight alone.
He knows we are broken and scared. He surrounds us with His army of angels and sends us forward despite our weakness. But not alone. The King and His army fight with us.
Carried in the cross 