Why is it when you feel like you have absolutely nothing left, that is the moment something goes wrong. We shoulder so many things in a day, let alone in a week. You get to a place where you feel like a dam is building inside of you to hold back the flood. Then one little extra thing makes the dam Crack. Then another, and another. Suddenly it bursts and you are hurt and angry. Why God? Why again? Why another? Why this? Life happens and is hard sometimes, but no one is truly to blame for that. These aren’t the times of saying, why? These are the times of saying, I seek you Jesus. Hold me and guide me through this season. That’s the thing about seasons. They change. Hes got you. Keep going.
Category: power of God
Get back up, He’s got you
Sometimes it’s hard. You know. Getting up. Getting up when you’ve been knocked down. Getting up when have spent everything you’ve got. Getting up to do it again. Somedays the bravest thing you will do is get out of bed and try again. It’s a dangerous thing going out your front door every morning. You never know what will come. You feel you can slow down and take a break, and then suddenly realize that you can’t and that feeling almost breaks you. Keep going. You don’t want to hear that, but you must keep going.
When Jesus fell on the road to Golgatha He did not keep laying there. He got up, and God sent Him a man named Simon to help Him carry the cross.
God will sent us someone to help us carry the cross as well. His name is Jesus.
Keep going. You CAN do this!
The theme of Acts and what we can learn from it
In truth, Acts is very repetitive. A deciple preaches Jesus’s kingdom and heals people. Then he is hated by those who are jealous of him and tortured. Then he goes and preaches Jesus again.
What do we learn from this common string that we see throughout Act? Keep fighting.
Keep telling of Jesus, keep letting them hate you. Do not give up!
Yesterday a friend of ours said, “I keep telling people about Jesus no matter what. I figure they’re going to hell without Him anyway, I can’t make things worse.” And she’s totally right. They are already headed for the worst thing that can happen to them, so you aren’t going to hurt them by telling them about Jesus. The bad thing that can happen is that they might hurt you. Or block you on Social Media, it’s Canada, there’s not a lot people are going to do.
So then why not? Why not tell them? Unless we are afraid for ourselves. Which most of us are. I do not enjoy sharing Jesus. Its the most terrifying thing you will do. Why? Because the devil makes us afraid. He lies to us and tells us to hide our faith our we will lose things. Our friends. Our jobs. Our Twitter following.
In the end what does any of that matter? As long as another soul is in Heaven.
[36] In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor. [37] About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. [38] Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once!” [39] Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them. [40] Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. [41] He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called for the believers, especially the widows, and presented her to them alive. [42] This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord. [43] Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon.
I want us to take two things from this verse.
1. Nothing can stop God’s work in your life. Not even death.
2. Your work may look different than Peter’s work.
Tabitha did good work. The women showed Peter the clothes she had made for the poor. She probably became sick by being with the sick. She was a minister. Not a pastor. Not an evangelist. She made clothes. This was what she had been gifted by God to do. This makes me think of Linus. There is a group in town that makes blankets for the firetrucks. They make them in bold and beautiful designs. When something tragic happens and the firemen have to wrap someone up in a blanket they wrap them in one of these quilts and then send them home with the quilt.
This is a talent these ladies use to care for these people.
Peter then goes and stays with a tanner. A man who tanned hides for use.
He was able to serve God by letting Peter stay in his home.
We all have something we can do. It might be knitting booties to give to crises pregnancy center. Or making a hot meal for a neighbor. Or teaching someone how to do something they need to be able to do.
God told us to wear boots of readiness not slippers of “meh, maybe later.” Be ready to do God’s work. Who knows what that will look like or what day that will happen. Perhaps you are the smile someone needs. Perhaps you are the home made cookies that helped someone keep going.
We all face battles and darkness. Everyone here has a monster who paces the corners of their mind from time to time. But one way to fight the beast that we don’t alway remember, is to help people.
Tabitha fought the monster of illness, and God sent Peter to help her back on her feet. How many people had she helped back on their feet over the years?
Don’t let the darkness win. Shine light. Be the light. And be willing to let others be the light to you.
Too far away from the fire
When you don’t spend enough time with God, you begin to lose something. You lose the warmth. There is a warmth in the connection between you and God, a steady feeling of health for your soul. You may have days on end where your day was lousy, but you felt okay once you sat down and spent time with Him. Then things change. You get busy. Distracted. Sick. Tired. Something happens, and you are suddenly not spending the time with God that you used to. Then the cold slips in. Like a frost slipping its fingers under the door in December. A chill enters your bones, and you don’t know why or where it has come from. You wrap up in a blanket of comfort, TV, social media, a good book, but it’s never enough. Then, one day, you open your Bible, and suddenly, a wave of warmth floods back into your soul. You stop and pray for a bit, and more warmth comes. Soon, you are praying and worshiping and feel like you are sitting on a warm beach in the sun because your soul has its fire back.
Isaiah 53:6-12 NIV
[6] We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. [7] He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. [8] By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. [9] He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. [10] Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. [11] After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. [12] Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
https://bible.com/bible/111/isa.53.6-12.NIV
The battle in the hall
The real battle, he fought alone, in the hall before the great door and the monster within. – The Hobbit
We often feel like our times of fighting with ourselves and forcing ourselves forward to do things that terrify us is not the true battle. In fact, we look on it as weakness. Yet, it is often in the hallways before the interview, before the operation, before the exam, before whatever is facing you, that is where we fought the true battle. The greatest battle to overcome, because we are fighting ourselves.
In a way, we are all members of Fight Club. We are all fighters against the enemy of our own thoughts and actions. For every time God tells you to do something, the devil tells you not to, and vice-versa. If God tells you to invite your friend to church, the devil will tell you not to. If God tells you not to go to that party, the devil will tell you you should.
You always fight your biggest battles, but yourself, in the hall.
Except one thing. You aren’t by yourself. Jesus fights with you. When the devil gets in your head, Jesus is right there attacking his defenses and stopping him from making strongholds.
Jesus is your only true defense.
Don’t let the battle of the hall hold you back from the path and the future God has set before you.
Some days
Some days, it hurts. Some days you wonder why you are there and how you even got there. Some days, it feels like everyone is after you and not in a good way. But God.
It’s like climbing through a thick cloud. You can’t see where you are going, but you keep going, and then finally, you see the light at the top. That’s what it’s like to turn your eyes upon Jesus. He will show that you are okay because of Him. He will give you great friends. He will give you great family. He Himself will be your support team.
You have wounds. But you are not defined by them. You are strong despite them and because of them, but they are not who you are.
Jesus cried tears of blood for a people He loved, in a place He did not want to be, about to do something He did not want to do. But He did it anyway.
He lives inside of us. His strength to carry on through the impossible is with us. He is our God.
Even when you feel like a tree who has had her bark wounded by a deer, stripped and torn but not so deep it will die, Jesus sees you. He hasn’t let you go or left you. He will get you through this.
Trust Him!
Mist and light
Have you ever noticed the mist?
I mean really noticed it.
It’s beautiful. It changes everything so that scenes you have seen all your life, sudden you don’t recognize. But that’s also why it can be so dangerous.
If you don’t recognize where you are you can get lost. Or fall and get hurt. Or drive the wrong way.
Sin is like that. It can look so beautiful that we crave it. But then it makes everything you once knew was right and true look blurry. Suddenly you no longer know where you are or how you got there. You’re lost. But the Light of the world comes and burns back the mist showing you your way home.
If you’re lost right now, talk to Jesus and let His light terrify the dark.
Proverbs 3:5-6
Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV
[5] Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; [6] in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
This. This right here. This verse.
We listen to it. We pray it. We quote it. We get it tattooed on our arms. Yet. Do we listen to it?
Trust in Jesus. Do not rely on what you understand. Submit your ways to Him and He will make a way.
We see this verse as a soft, cuddly verse. A feel good verse. This is not a feel good verse. This is a battle cry in the midst of tragedy and sorrow. This is not a spot light on a highway, this is a torch in a tunnel.
We don’t need to be reminded to trust God when life is good. We need to trust God when life is a dumpster fire! When we can’t take anymore. When we want to scream and cry and throw things. That’s when we need to be reminded that our understanding is not His understanding. Our understanding is limited to what we know and what we see. His understanding expands beyond thought, time and reality as we know it. God knows how the book ends. We don’t. God knows how we are going to continue on. Get by. See the end. See the reward. See the plan, maybe we never see the plan, maybe we just live the plan. But God. God knows. Trust not in your understanding because it is subjective. Trust in God’s understanding because He created your understanding.
Acts of Acts 1 part 2
Acts 1:6-9 ESV
[6] So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” [7] He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. [8] But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” [9] And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.
Jesus has so often had to tell us to stop asking questions. He says it nicely, but basically His words say, “stop asking why and when and just trust me.”
Somedays we must be like untrained children following their parents around saying, “Why? Why? Why? Why?” Not because they really want an answer, just because they want to ask why?
Jesus tells us to be patient. To stop asking why? And to start waiting on Him and trusting in Him. The day will come when we finally say, “oh, that was why.” But it’s not yet.
Our job is not to know all the answers, but to simply be witnesses of what we do know. Jesus came to thos earth to die for our sins so we can be His family and be received into Heaven with Him. Why? Because God so loved the world.
Following the fourth Wiseman- Continuing on
Several years have passed since our traveler’s experience meeting the Messiah. He has seen many miracles and many hardships. He had know when Jesus had sent him into the world to tell people about what he had seen and heard regarding Jesus, that it would not be easy. Yet there were days when he thought he could not continue on. He often wondered about the other disciples. He had heard stories about them and even the works of a man named Paul. He wondered if they ever felt worn down and hopeless? Yet every time he felt he could not carry on, our traveler recalled the words of his Messiah.
John 16:33 ESV
[33] I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
These words and the presence of his Messiah kept our traveler going. Telling the good news of Jesus everywhere he went. Until the end of his days.
We often feel like we just can’t keep going. We don’t have enough faith to tell one more person about Jesus. We don’t have enough courage to continue on the path He has put before us. We are just too tired to keep trying. The hate against us is so strong. The mockery, so constant. Why talk to people when they don’t believe?
Then the words of Jesus come back to us. In this world you will have trouble, but take heart I have overcome the Earth. Jesus has already overcome it all. I like the thing I saw that said, Jesus has walked on the tops of the waves you thought would bury you. There have been so many waves I thought would bury me, but when I felt I was going under I looked up and I saw the hand of the savior reaching down, that hand has kept me going. I’m sure it has kept many of us going. There’s no promise things will be easy. But He has risen, and because He is risen. We have a reason to keep on trying to trust him to go forward in faith.
This world is hard at times, but God.
John 3:16 ESV
[16] “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Carried in the cross 