What does Jesus say when He prays?
The Bible says Jesus prays for us
and most people I have heard talk about this say that He is praying for our souls. That is probably very true. This week I hit the sea floor and the waves keept shoving me back to the bottom everytime I tried to resurface. In the midst of the drowning I was walking past a painting we have in our house of Jesus praying and it hit me, is He praying for my situation? I suddenly realized that Jesus most likely does not just pray for my soul He probably prays for me. For my problems, for my fears, for my hurts, my needs, my crushing blow days. Jesus probably prays for all of it. So on those nights when it’s 12 am and I still can’t find the words to pray its alright, because Jesus says everything in His prayers that needs to be said. I simply need to support Him with worship.
Jesus. Wow! Thank you for praying for me, for caring that much.
Category: searching
Trust fall
Do you remember how in school every so often the teacher would insist upon doing trust exercises? You’d pair up and then take turns falling and catching each other. Usually you would choose to pair up with a friend right? You wanted to make sure that the person who was catching you was someone you could trust. When we pair up with Jesus we are falling blindly into His arms and trusting that He will catch us.
I can tell you that thinking back on those exercises I don’t remember the people I caught but I definitely remember the people I let fall, (by accident). How often do we feel like God has let us fall and then we focus on those times alone? Just a heads up God never lets you hit the ground. He always has a plan for you no matter how abandoned you may feel at times. Think on how many times God has caught you instantly when you trust fell into Him; those times will out number the amount of times He has let you dangle. Also try and look at the circumstances. It may be annoying to hear but try to see the good that can come out of God not catching you right away this time. I won’t do the eagle and nest quote but sometimes in our flailing we are able to find a stronger hold on Jesus. Even if you can’t see Him standing behind you, your friend Emmanuel is ready to catch you, you never fall past where God wants you because that’s where He will catch you.
Credit to owner for the cover image
Star with royal beauty
Driving home from work a large green ball of fire with a beautiful white tail sped across the sky off to my left. I was sure it was a comet of some kind. The driver in front of me veered off to follow the path of the amazing light probably hoping to see more of it. It was not until the weekend that I found out that it was the famous Christmas Comet. Seeing that comet made me think. The most famous star ever, made it’s debut around this time of the year, and like the driver ahead of me there were people who dropped everything to follow it.
I can picture myself as one of the wise men. I’ll be Beltashazar. Sitting in my study surrounded by parchment and literally burning the midnight candle. Suddenly a bright light takes over the sky. The next thing I know I’m in the middle of the desert on a camel with two other guys and we are all following this star. We dropped everything to go and admittedly my mind keeps wandering back to, “did I blow out all my candles before I left?” Not that it would matter seeing as we have been following said star for nearly 2 years. But giving up isn’t even in our minds because we know the king of glory is waiting for us. Hot, sweaty; shoes torn, camels exhausted we three ‘kings’ tumble into the house where Mary, Joseph and king baby Jesus are living. Suddenly all the dirt is washed away, my sore, aching bones feel strong and healed and my heart is filled with the awe of seeing my king.
We get the privleage to know the light of the world even while here on earth. When we become Christians we choose to drop our old lives and begin to follow Him. We follow long and through many obstacles trying to get a better look at our wonderful saviour; and when the journey is through and we find ourselves where the star is residing we get to go into His home and see Him face to face. Suddenly all the wear of the world and the weariness of life falls off and we get to embrace Him. Our savior, our Jesus.
Come they told me
Over the next few weeks leading up to Christmas I am going to do a devotional themed around favorite Christmas songs. Today’s song is ‘little drummer boy.’
Come they told me, a new born king to see. If someone came up to me on the street and said, “hey! Haven’t you heard? There’s a new king born today, hurry up we have to go see Him!” I would probably look at them with a, “say what?” Expression before nervously following along behind. On the road to what I assume is going to be the king’s palace someone looks at me and says, “where’s your gift? You did know you were supposed to bring one right?” Suddenly embarrassed I search my person and realize I have nothing, I’m not even wearing jewelery, all I have is me. I slowly shrink back in the crowd. When we reach where the baby king is residing I can’t see anything past the crowd but the one thing I do notice is that there is no looming palace staring me down, I also notice a lot of sheep running around and I am sure that I just heard a cow. Confused I slowly creep my way forward and peer down at the baby, laying in a manger, surrounded by sheep and chickens and a couple of farm dogs and cats. My face shows my shock as the baby’s mother looks up at me. I fumble with my hands. “I’m sorry, but, I didn’t bring anything to give Him.” She smiles gently, “my dear,” I hear her say, “we are not to bring gifts for Him, He is the gift for us. If all you can bring is yourself then you have brought all you truly have because nothing on this earth is really ours, it all already belongs to Him.” With that she cradles the baby closer and kisses His cheek. I am amazed as I see the baby look at me and smile a smile so healing all my pains, worries and fears die away.
Jesus doesn’t need anything from us, He already owns everything we call ours. He just wants us. We are all we truly own because we are the only thing we have a say over; it is our choice to follow Jesus or not, all He wants is for us to give ourselves back to Him so He can make us whole.
Dragons and kings
God is not like smaug, the great dragon from the Hobbit, where when we come into His lair trembling and say “I had heard stories about you but I did not believe them,” he stands back from us flexing the scales across his chest and blowing a snort of smoke out of his nose he proplaclaims, “and do you now?”
In contrast when we come up to Jesus trembling saying, ” I had heard stories of you my Lord, but I did not believe them.” He looks at us with love and responds, “I know, I have been waiting for you to come and see me for yourself.” Then He hugs us and all our fears and sins and scars melt away and not only do we believe the stories we now know the man they are about and we know He loves us. His gentle embrace following us everywhere we go until we get to live with Him in His kingdom. There is no dragon pride, just the gentle/powerful/all knowing/unending love of a king.
(Credit to owner for the cover image)
Open handed combat
When I was in high school I took basic karate. One of the main things drilled into the class was the fact that karate means open handed combat, which means that our combat is self defense it is not meant as a form of attack. If we apply this technique to life we get a person entering their day open minded to the people around them and empty handed of judgments. When we go out into this world we are stepping onto the mat and as Christians the way we respond to daily jabs and kicks need to be censored according to our teachings. In martial arts your fight technique reflects that of your teacher, in the same way our daily response to life needs to reflect Jesus. We enter the arena holding nothing against the people we will face, we come in open minded to their situation. Picture this. Bright blinding lights, a roaring crowd and a tall battle scarred warrior faces you down as your toe touches the mat, there’s no turning back now. You see that angry face, the deep creases of old battles lost and you gain your opinion of the warrior. They step closer and you step up to them, you don’t yet know what will happen next all you know is this person has been hurt too many times and it is your turn now to decide, do you attack or do you help? Do you reign judgement and add to their scars or do you give compassion and help the scars heal? Your mind open and clear so you can hear from the Holy Spirit and see this person’s needs and you realize all they need is a comforting hand. As the vision fades away; the crowds and the lights dim, you see the warrior in a new way, the way Jesus sees them. We shouldn’t enter the arena to fight we should enter to help; but sometimes in this daily life we Christians forget that we are not here to judge and attack the people around us, we are here to help them and in doing so show them Jesus. That’s the point to open handed combat, coming without prejudices and without judgements so you can help heal this world just as Jesus came without a sword or armor as a gentle baby in a manger.
Rebel Child
I rebel against all fear within me
I rebel against all shame
I rebel against all past hurts
I rebel against the pain
I stand in defiance of the fear
I stand and lock my knees
I am immovable you hear
Hear what I have to say
Jesus is my king and friend and He is power beyond compare
So little imperfections in me how dare you show yourselves here
My savior cares not who I was and He guides me to who I can be
Whenever I stumble I never truly fall because my Jesus is in me
We all have little voices inside our heads that bite at us throughout our lives. Those little voices lie and taunt and yet for some reason we always seem to believe them. STOP believing those voices and begin to believe the voice of Heaven; begin to believe what Jesus says about you. You are worthy, you are loved, and most importantly you are worth dying for. Jesus never lies and His truth chases off those biting little voices inside our heads because there is nothing about us that can change the way Jesus feels about us. There is nothing about us that is unlovable because Jesus will always love us and we are beautiful because we are works of art from the master’s hand, and guess what we are pretty amazing because God made us to be amazing no matter what pur little voices say.
I wish we’d all been ready
Rapture will not stay lest mortals become divine and laws change too much- CS Lewis.
It’s something we don’t really think about ‘rapture will not stay.’ When the rapture comes it will be seconds in time, possibly even less. If we are not ready, then it will pass us by; there is no second chance, no third times the charm, it will be gone. If you are like me that thought will terrify you. Many people I have talked to say, ‘ya, I’m a good person I know I’m going to Heaven,’ but that is not enough. You have to follow God’s laws to the best of your ability and fall on God’s grace for those you seem to keep failing at. Don’t think that God is going to look at you and see that you gave money to a homeless man once and say ‘ok fine your in.’ God wants all of you, all to him, good deeds alone are not enough. Good deeds are necessary to show love but you must believe in Jesus and you must at least try to follow the age old saying, “what would Jesus do?” Remember Rapture will not stay. I am not trying to be offensive; remembering to serve is hard for everyone including me. Even the disciples failed to show love once in awhile, and I am sure that they broke God’s laws every so often, but they always repented and didn’t fall back on their good deeds. Okay yes some disciples did do the ‘look at all I’ve done for you Lord,’ thing, but they came around and saw their fault and repented. You must believe in Jesus to go to Heaven, but you also need to behave like a Christian, do your absolute best, that’s what God expects of us. The first step to truly being a Christian is to realize that Jesus loves you and me and the second is to show that love to others.
Two sides-same coin
The two thieves on the crosses are perfect examples of Christian and non-Christian people. Both were thieves, both were sinners but one chose to follow Jesus in the end. Like the two thieves we are all sinners and we all fall so short of the kingdom of God it’s hard for many to believe that they can go to Heaven. Jesus died as a criminal without committing any crime so that even the theif hanging next to Him could join Him in Heaven. Just the same, we all have a place with Jesus in Heaven if we choose to accept it by accepting Him. All people are people, there is no biological difference that separates those who are Christians and those who aren’t. The difference is Jesus. The difference is the Holy Spirit moving in us making us act…. Christian, we are just two sides of the same coin. All non-Christians can come to Christ there is absolutely nothing making it so that they can’t; not only that but Jesus welcomes them, us, everyone! Jesus wants the whole world to see Him and to not feel they are unwelcome in His home and at His table. Listen and you will hear His gentle voice calling you home. Today I want to end by saying this; anyone who feels cast out from the church because they are struggling to find their place in God’s kingdom, don’t feel like you’re alone, remember that the church cast Jesus out too. There are many churches out there and in truth sometimes you have to look a little before you can find a pastor and a congregation that suits you, but when you do you’ll feel like you’re home. Jesus wants YOU even if you don’t feel wanted and HE Loves you no matter how unlovable you feel. So choose Jesus because He has already chosen you.
Pray with me please
Jesus I know I am a sinner, I know I fall short of your glory but I also know you love me and you want me; please come into my life and fill me with you. Please forgive my sins and draw me to you and closer to you. Help me find you and to not feel discouraged. In your name I pray. Amen.
Behind the mask
We all have pain in our lives; pain we feel each day, pain that causes us to fall asleep on tear-drenched pillows. The peace is in the fact that the pain won’t last. Jesus hates it when we hurt so He reaches down a hand to hold. Jesus knows the good that will come from our suffering but He will not allow us to suffer to alone; He is always with us. A little while back I had fallen from a rock wall and had landed on my face. Not wanting to go through my day with the big cut down my lip showing I proceeded to cover it with make up, guess what? It almost completely disappeared; on the surface everything seemed to be fine so no one knew the pain behind the makeup. All people use cover-up throughout their lives so that on the outside all looks fine and no body knows what’s going on on the inside, no body but Jesus. Does anyone remember the song ‘don’t cry out loud’? For how many people is this song their life motto? “I’ll be fine, I can stand strong, this is my problem not anyone else’s.” Sound familiar? This life has a way of knocking us back, but Jesus is there so we don’t hit the ground. We fall into His strong arms and like the best friend HE is, who always has our backs, Jesus straightens us up and faces our giants with us. It’s not necessarily a bad thing that we as people don’t feel comfortable sharing our pain with others, but we must never forget that Jesus is sharing our pain with us. He feels it too and understands. He cried alone in the garden so that we will NEVER have to cry alone. As you work at moving through your pain please remember, most of the people around you have pain they are moving through too and that they need you to be gentle with them, just as you need others to be gentle with you.
Carried in the cross 