Heaven

March 3, 2024 carriedinthecrossLeave a comment

‭‭
Revelation 21:3 NIV‬‬ says:
[3] And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

God is available. You can speak with Him and laugh with Him and listen to music with Him and go on hikes with Him, IF, He lives in your heart, if you have accepted Him as your Lord and Savior.
We all like the ‘God knows my heart’ statement. But do you actually like that? He knows your heart. Your every motive, your every deceit, your every wrong desire. It’s not a ‘God knows my heart so even if I am doing something wrong He knows that in my heart I’m a good person.’ But what your heart shows is not you as a good person, your heart shows the very worst of you. Not because you are a bad person, but because we are all sinful by nature. But God loves us enough to change our hearts.

‭‭John 14:3 NIV‬‬
[3] And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
God prepares a place for us. The only true Heaven is the one God has created. The one that is there for those of us who love Him. If you love someone you want that someone with you all the time so make space for him or her in your life. We often feel like our walk with God is a lot of work on our part, or at least I have often heard complaints to that rhythm. Yes, following God’s laws and serving Him may feel like too much work sometimes. That’s why so many want to change Jesus’s words to make it sound like the laws that God gave us are not still relevant. New flash. They are still relevant. And then we who know that Jesus never changed God’s laws only the rules that the leaders had adopted, we often feel like we aren’t living up to God’s standards because His rules are based on His perfect sinless nature. But God does not expect us to become perfect or to reach a state of enlightenment, or to be able to live on nothing but the basics because that’s Christ like. No. None of that is true. He expects us to do our absolute best. To flee from sin. To help our brothers and sisters in Christ. To love those who it would be easier to hate. But He knows we will fall and fail everyday, and even knowing that He will keep on helping us try again. He knows we will never reach perfection, what He wants to see is a child trying His or Her best to live as Jesus lives. Blameless. Will we succeed? Sometimes. Will we fail? Sometimes. But are we trying? Yes.
God is preparing a home for us. A place to reside with Him. Because He wants us with Him. He wants us to do our best and to finish the race. He wants us to keep the Faith. He wants us to get to live in His house with Him.

‭‭Philippians 3:20 NIV‬‬
[20] But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,

We are strangers, we are aliens, we are not of this world. Petra . We often forget that we are not of this world. But it’s true. Our citizenship is in heaven with Jesus. When a loved one dies we get so broken down because we look at this world, we look at the things they used to touch, the rooms they used to occupy smell like they did, they’re laughter and smile is now gone from our sight and hearing. But they were never meant to stay in this world, they have gone to heaven where they are happy and blessed and encouraged and better than anything else they get to be with Jesus physically every single day. And when we look around in our sad we have to remember that we are not meant for this world either, we are here for a little while to encourage others to come and to benefit the kingdom of God, but someday we too will be in heaven with Jesus always. There was a song once by an old band that said If by some mistake Jesus was not in heaven it too would be hell. The world makes heaven look like some big party Zone meant for nothing but good times. But what makes heaven heaven is the fact that Jesus is physically there and we get to be with him. In the end he is all we need, and it’s hard because we get it into our heads that that’s not true but it is. Jesus is all we will ever need. And he is gone to prepare a home for us in his kingdom so we can walk out our front door and say ‘hey Jesus want to go for a walk and get a coffee.’ All our pets that we have lost before will run around our feet our loved ones will come up and want to chat and people we never even knew will be like family to us. Best of all we will get to worship our savior physically face to face everyday. That’s what heaven it all about.

Christianity · encouragement · Jesus · lent · True Joy

Hands part 4

March 1, 2024 carriedinthecrossLeave a comment

Psalms 22:16 they pierced my hands and feet. A little further down it mentions lots being cast for David’s belongings. He was using a metaphor and people will try and explain what was on his mind or why this was so close to what Jesus went through.
David wrote often on the hands of God and the peace of being safe in His hands. This
Always reminds me of newborn kittens. When a kitten is first born it is so tiny it truly fits right in the palm of your hand. Too often living on a farm have we seen Barn cats abandon their kittens and will be out there trying to take care of them. They’re so tiny and trusting and they will snuggle down right in the palm of your hand and go to sleep because they know somehow they know they are safe there. So often I would sit for hours in our barn with my dog wandering around sniffing out different cat residences, he’s very friendly with cats, and I would sit there and I’d be holding a sleeping kitten. That’s us with Jesus we’re tiny and delicate like a newborn kitten lying safe within his hands. It reminds me of the song He’s got the whole world in His hands. Petra did a newer version where they said, He’s STILL got the whole world in His hands. We forget those songs from kid’s camp, those songs that told us so much about God’s character. He’s still got the whole world in His hands. In those hands that we pierced.

Christianity · Devotional · encouragement · Jesus · Love · power of God · Prayer · searching · still fighting · True Joy

He knows

Featured carriedinthecrossLeave a comment

He knows

Those battles you fight. Those problems and pains you go through that you tell no one about. Those needs, fears, desires, fallings, sicknesses, screams in the back of your mind, dark pits that circle, boxes you can’t climb out of, endless nights, days that won’t go away. All of it. Jesus is there. You may tell no one. You may never ask for help or sympathy, but He knows. It’s the moment when you feel you have been fighting alone all night long and you suddenly feel an arm around you. You look and see no one, then you realize, it’s Jesus. Those days when you felt like no one could hear or see you, but He hears and sees you. You feel like you scream alone, but He holds your hand and screams with you until your screaming is done and you feel like you will make it. He will make it so you can make it. You fall, but never hit bottom because He catches you.
No matter what. Jesus is there. In all my circumstances- But God.

Christianity · encouragement · free · guidance · Jesus · Love · power of God · Prayer · searching · still fighting · True Joy

In the box of grief

January 25, 2024 carriedinthecrossLeave a comment

I don’t know who needs this tonight. But grief is like a box. You feel trapped by walls that you can’t touch or see and you feel a need to escape but can’t. This is why so many turn to suicide, because the box is everywhere. You run one direction and it follows you, you go another direction and it’s still there. The worst part of the box is that it is there even when you try and escape into sleep. It follows you into your dreams and makes you feel like you can’t breathe.
No one else sees the box, so they don’t understand how you feel.
But Jesus sees the box. He alone can hear you pounding on its barriers and screaming for help. The best part is, counselors and support groups -though great – can only meet you outside of the box. They try to coax you out and then meet you on the other side. But Jesus doesn’t need to wait until you are free from the box. He goes into the box with you. He sits there with you as long as you feel you need to be there. Because sometimes fighting the box takes too much out of us and we need time to sit and cry. When you are ready, Jesus will hold your hand, tap the box wall and make it fall before you. He will set you free.

If you are in a box right now, take a moment to speak the name of Jesus and realize that you are not alone.

Christianity · Christmas · Devotional · encouragement · guidance · holy spirit · Jesus · power of God · The Bible · True Joy

Prophesies

December 17, 2023 carriedinthecrossLeave a comment

What child is this?

Prophesies. Prophesies ushered in the birth of Jesus. Prophesies helped people understand who He was. Prophesies told of His death and resurrection. Prophesies are in part why the Wise Men walked across the desert to find a baby. Prophesies, Prophesies and more Prophesies.

Yet not all believed the fulfillment of the Prophesies. Many still don’t. Even now as we look around our world we are seeing the answers and fulfillment of Prophesies from the Bible and from true God seeking men and women from a later date. But do we believe that they are happening? Don’t we mock when we hear someone shout ‘Repent! He is coming soon!’

So. What about those Prophesies?
What child is this reminds us of the fulfillment of Prophesies. We have seen time and again when God spoke and answered. If we are going according to the past then I would say we should be listening for the trumpet because the Prophesies are being fulfilled.

If we are going by modern thinking, then there are no Prophesies and we can live as we like. But people who say that are already deceived, there are too few Christians these days who stand strong and preach the gospel, too few who have faith enough to hear when the angels speak and say ‘I am the Lord’s servant.’ We want to be royals, not subjects, and do to this we fall into false truth and spread it to the masses.
We promote positive thinking and speaking your words to the air so the blessing returns to you. This is not Christian. We never remind people to Repent, or dare to mention that a second coming is true and that He is already on the move. If God fulfilled the Prophesies in Isaiah about a Virgin giving birth to God’s son, and about that son being slain for the sins of men and women, and then rising again to conquer death. Why do we doubt the prophet’s claims that Jesus will return with the armies of Heaven and vanquish all evil once and for all?

What child is this? He’s the perfect lamb, the conquering king, and my Savior.

Love · power of God · The Bible · True Joy

The tree

December 14, 2023 carriedinthecrossLeave a comment

The tree

Today I ate a banana. Bear with me. I have a point 👉

As I ate the banana, I thanked God for loving me so much that He made fruit. Then later I remembered something. Something we all forget. God made everything. EVERYTHING! First. Then He made people.
He made it all for His own enjoyment.

Here’s the special part.

When mankind sinned and ate the apple, what happened? God cast us out of the garden where all was perfect.
But. Don’t miss this.
God didn’t take these wonderful things from us.

We have to work the gardens and cultivate the fruit. But He let us keep it.

We sinned and messed up big time, so we were punished. But God loved us and still loves us, so much that He permitted us to keep the things He had called good.

The sun. The shade. The stars. The sea. The animals and birds. The plants. The sweet fresh fruit. He let us keep it all. Despite what we had done.

When we mess up we feel like God will snatch away all our blessings. We worry and fall into works over faith very easily. (you need both. Don’t misunderstand me.)

But when the first sin happened and the ‘lie broke the stillness’ as Larry Norman said, God still loved us enough to let us keep things He had made to please Himself. As a Father letting his child keep an object that he himself loves. God let us keep His goodness and what He made out of His wonders.

I hope that thought brings you as much joy as it does me.

Christmas · Devotional · encouragement · Jesus · Love · power of God · True Joy

It so began

December 10, 2023 carriedinthecrossLeave a comment

God rest ye merry gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
Remember Christ our Savior
Was born on Christmas Day
To save us all from Satan’s pow’r
When we were gone astray
Oh tidings of comfort and joy
Comfort and joy
Oh tidings of comfort and joy

God rest ye merry gentlemen has been around for so long most of us can sing it by heart. But have we ever stopped to read the lyrics? Even the first verse on its own is so powerful. Christ was born to save us all from Satan’s power. It’s true, but we forget it. We get caught up in everything else that we forget why Jesus came. I forget which speaker said it, and if you remember feel free to let me know, but one minister said that the first great miracle was not at the cross, but in the manger. We did a play as children once where the angels were standing around taking about Jesus being born on earth, and the angels were saying, “but He will take His power with Him won’t He? He won’t be all human… right?”
And another angel said, “He is taking His power with Him, but yes He will be all human.”
“He will be all human… and all God?”
“Yes.”
“Wow!”
“Yes.”
The angels went on to discuss what Jesus would go through as a man on earth right up to His death. The angels were enraged that people would even think of killing the son of God. But then they also knew that it had to happen and that He would be coming back again.
All of it, from the wine at the wedding to the upper room, began in the Manger. So that we could all be saved from the claws of the devil. So God rest ye merry people, because Jesus has come to save us.

Christianity · Devotional · encouragement · free · guidance · holy spirit · Jesus · power of God · Prayer · searching · still fighting · True Joy

Behind her

November 26, 2023 carriedinthecrossLeave a comment

Behind her

My dad has been transferring over a bunch of our HFV s so we can watch them. One of them was a two hour production of a play I was in. I was part of the choir, which was pretty large. At the end of the production the leader came to the lead mic and gave an invitation for anyone in the audience who had not yet accepted Jesus as their Savior to raise a hand. No one did. She gave the call one more time and then we all prayed the sinner’s prayer. You could see she was disappointed that no person From the audience had put up a hand. She had felt the call from God that someone needed her to give the invitation, but she saw no results.

My mom was video taping the whole event, this part too. Behind the leader who had given the call, two boys in the choir and one girl, put their hands up to receive Jesus. The leader could not see them, so she thought she had made a mistake but had everyone pray the prayer anyway.
In the back there were three young souls who had never accepted Christ who went home with the Holy Spirit in them, because a woman gave a call, and wouldn’t give up, even though it looked like no one had answered.

Don’t get discouraged. You may never see the results. But you have never made a mistake by inviting people to come to know Jesus. Come and see said Andrew. Come and see said Philip. Come and see said the shepherds.
Come and see says the repentant souls who know that of no one had ever told them to come and see, they would still be lost.
All we can do is give the invite, the rest is up to God.

Christianity · Devotional · dreams do come true · encouragement · free · guidance · holy spirit · Jesus · power of God · Prayer · searching · still fighting · The Bible · True Joy

He is the breath

October 15, 2023October 15, 2023 carriedinthecrossLeave a comment

He is the breath

He is the breath inside my lungs, I am just the breather.
I am simply using what He has given me to get through each day. We make everything about us. We make music meant to worship Jesus about our carnal relationships, we make our bodies meant to honor Him a temple of worldly pleasures, we make our minds that were meant to serve Him a battleground against Him. We don’t even acknowledge that God gave us all these things. That they are gifts from Him.
He is the breath inside our lungs, we simply use what He has given us.
Like CS Lewis said when speaking of God. He said, ‘we are like children, who ask their Father for money to go and buy Him a gift. And like the good Father He is, He always rejoices when we give our lives back to Him.’ -Mere Christianity (rough quote from my memory. I recommend reading the book for he says it so much better than I have here)
When we give our lives to Jesus, we are simply giving back to Him what always was His. We think we belong to ourselves, but we belonged to Him first.
He is everything that is important about us. Do we make Him our desire? Do remember to prioritize Him? He prioritizes us. We are His desire. We are nothing but hollow human shells without Him filling us with life. He is our redeemer. Let Him redeem you.

Christianity · Devotional · encouragement · guidance · Prayer · searching · thanksgiving · The Bible · True Joy

Living a thankful life

October 8, 2023 carriedinthecrossLeave a comment

When speaking to Timothy he said: But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
2 Tim. 3:1‭-‬5 NIV‬‬‬
Our Era is an Era of thanklessness. It was prophesied by Paul that the spirit of thanklessness would come, the question is why? Perhaps it is because the devil knew that if we had a thankful spirit, a mind set naturally to be grateful, we all would look upon the sacrifice of Jesus on and all the way up to the cross, and be so grateful that we would all turn to follow Him. Perhaps that is why the devil fights to keep us ungrateful. Being ungrateful damages your soul. A soul with the Holy Spirit in it will always lean toward gratitude even if things are bad, because the Spirit knows that even when the season we are in is hard God has still given us things to be thankful for. Those who give in to thankless attitudes permit their souls to be damaged and they become jaded.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
Colossians 3:15 NIV
We can find peace in situations that call for chaos due to the Holy Spirit within us. That is something to thank God for. Much of Paul’s writings seem to be a call to action. When Paul here says and be thankful I feel he is using it as a weapon against the enemy. Your peace that comes from Jesus is a weapon against the devil, your thankfulness that comes from Jesus is a weapon against the devil. So be thankful and use it as a defense against our enemy.
If you disagree that Paul is calling us as soldiers to use thankfulness as a weapon, then check out Chpt. 4 verse 2:
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
Colossians 4:2 NIV
Thankfulness is a weapon. So wield that weapon today as you look around at what you have and thank God even for the bread crumbs. Praise Him for He is holy and worthy to be praised.
Happy Thanksgiving