Tag Archives: Jesus

One step closer to hope

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SPOILER ALERT:  This post contains details about the movie “Devil” currently in theaters, story by M. Night Shyamalan.

Do you believe in the devil?  If so, what do you think about him?  Or what fables have you heard about him?  I’ve always wondered where the image of a little red guy with a greasy mustache, pointy tail and a pitchfork came from.  There really aren’t many details about him in the Bible that tell us who he is other than a fallen angel, thief, prince of darkness, father of lies, and deceiver.  Jesus said the devil only aims to do three things:  to steal, kill and destroy  (John 10:10).  Peter warned us, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”  I Peter 5:8

M. Night Shyamalan uses that verse from Peter as a springboard to tell a story about sinners and their fate.  Although it’s fantasy, there are some truths in the movie, truths that won’t leave me alone today. Continue reading →

Know your enemy

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Someone I dearly love has been wrestling with lies from the enemy and shared more openly with me tonight about it.  As I listened I got mad, furious that he would torment her and give her such ideas, ideas to harm herself.  I reminded her that he doesn’t care about her and she doesn’t have to listen.  She said she needs a miracle.  The beautiful thing is that we serve a God who does miracles all the time.  Read this and be encouraged:

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(I posted this on my old blog a few years ago – I want to post it again)

Our spiritual enemy wants the opposite of what God wants for each of us. He will use lots of different tactics to try to drag us away and turn from God.

In order to defend yourself or even have a chance at defeating an enemy, you must know about the enemy. Here are a few things you need to remember about our spiritual enemy, the devil: Continue reading →

It’s going to be good

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I don’t know what’s ahead tomorrow; don’t even know what’s ahead in a few hours or two minutes from now.  But it’s going to be good.

It may be something different from what I plan.  It may hurt.  It may make me laugh.  I might be overjoyed or concerned, scared, relieved, bewildered or surprised but I belong to a good God so it’s going to be good.  Good doesn’t necessarily mean “happy” or comfortable or even pleasant.  There’s a deeper good that God knows and wants to give.

My God who keeps His promises.  My God who loves and loves and loves.  We can’t out-give Him.  He is good.

Sadly, the hard stuff of life can sometimes cause me to see God as indifferent, angry, or unkind.  What if instead I saw Him as He is:  a wholly devoted, attentive, compassionate Dad who can relate to how I feel in every moment.

Have you ever bought a gift for someone and you know it’s exactly what they want and waiting until it’s time to give it to them is almost unbearable?  You just can’t wait to give it to them because you know how happy they will be and you want to make them happy because you love them.  God probably has to restrain Himself from bowling us over with revelations, blessings, and knowledge of outcomes because it’s for our good, because it’s not time yet or we’re not ready to receive what He has for us yet.  I think He can hardly wait to help us and show us all that He has planned.  I imagine it’s especially hard for Him when He has to remain silent, watching while we cry out, all so that we will search more, grow more, and become stronger.

Sometimes when talking with friends about things I don’t understand we say that when we get to heaven we can ask God about it.  Maybe then He’ll finally show me what it was all about or why certain things happened.

You know what?  I don’t think I will care at that point!  When I see Him face to face – the One who somehow shrunk His vastness down into the tiny, frail body of a human baby and grew up among the limited, common folks He Himself made out of dust, and then actually gave his life up for all of us because of unrelenting love – I think all I will be able to say is “thank you.”

All the stuff that happened here will be wiped from my memory and won’t matter anymore.  All that will matter is that it drove me to Jesus and helped me get home.

It’s going to be so good.

“…open your eyes and see—how good God is.
Blessed are you who run to him.”  Psalm 34:8  The Message

“You bless all of those who trust you, LORD.”  Psalm 40:4  CEV

Thought for the Day

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If I’m like a glow-in-the-dark star and the light of Jesus is what “charges” me up to glow, people won’t see the glow as much in broad daylight.  It’s when things get dark that the glow shows up.  Don’t run from or wish away tough times.  They’ll see what God’s doing in your life much more when things get dark.  Just stay close to Jesus and glow.

We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!  Romans 5:4 The Message

Did you know?

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Did you know…

  • That you’re free – free to just be the “you” God made you to be
  • You’re not responsible for the choices other people make, just your own
  • You don’t have to save everyone or fix their problems, only Jesus can do that
  • You don’t have to figure out how to get from point A to point B, you just trust God
  • You are loved more than you can possibly think of, dream up or imagine, even when you mess up
  • There’s no such thing as a perfect person (except for Jesus)
  • Everyone has some kind of dysfunction in their life and in their family, and that’s okay
  • God made you the way you are on purpose and He has good things for you to do, in whichever stage of life you find yourself right now
  • It’s okay to laugh and have fun when you worship and praise God
  • God gave everything to have you near, to have you walk with Him, talk with Him, love Him and be with Him forever.
  • God’s forgiveness and fresh start are available for you today and every day.
  • You can’t make God love you more by “being good.”  He just loves because He IS love.  So be still and be loved by Him.  Do good just to thank Him and help others know Him.
  • That anything good in me and you is from God, not from us
  • You connect with God differently than others, and that’s okay.  You may connect through music, through being outdoors, through journaling, through quiet times, through serving other people…whichever way you connect to Him is okay.
  • Guilt is not from God.  It helps us realize we need to change but God doesn’t want us to live under guilt.  He means for us to be FREE
  • You are FREE when you accept Jesus’ forgiveness and surrender to Him.  I’m talking truly free.
  • This day is God’s gift to you because He loves you.  He was watching you sleep and couldn’t wait for you to open your eyes and wake up.  He’s singing over You because He is so delighted in You, today, right now.  Take His hand and just wait and see all the beautiful things He will show you.

Today is good

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Today is beautiful.

Today I have more than I need; in fact, compared to many I live in luxury.

Today the sun warms my skin, a warm breeze tousles my hair, all under a canopy clear aqua-blue sky.

Today I am content.

Today I get to spend time with my sister from Arizona who I love.

Today my bills are paid and my car is running.

Today I’m healthy and well.

Today John and I are both employed.

Today, like yesterday and every day ahead of me, I have the incredible privilege of enjoying a close relationship with God.  He was waiting for me as I opened my eyes this morning – waiting to give me the gift of this day.

Today I’m exploring His gift as it unwinds.  I’ll miss beauty, blessings, and even God Himself if I’m all bound up in wondering about days ahead.

Jesus said to live in today…not yesterday and not tomorrow.  That’s good because I don’t know what’s coming tomorrow.  It’s actually a loving gift He gave us, to just dwell in the day we woke to, to enjoy it, to walk hand in hand through it with him and those around us, to be thankful and at peace.

So, I’m living in this day.

And today is good.

Jesus said, “What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.

“Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.”  Matthew 6:33-34 The Message

Kaleidoscope

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When I surrendered, all my thoughts, dreams, plans, expectations, hopes and even some beliefs fell as if the surface they were resting on was suddenly yanked out from underneath.  The ground below was hard and they shattered.  So many pieces lay in piles all jumbled up. What a mess! They had seemed so valuable – something to be desired – but now all was broken.

Before I could reach a state of panic or overwhelming sadness, I felt Jesus’ strong hand on my shoulder, silently telling me to just be still.  He stepped past me crouching there in my disappointment and scooped up all the fragments and shards in His hands.  Then he got up and turned away from me for a while as I nursed my wounds from wayward pieces that had cut me.  He worked without speaking.  The silence became so complete it almost smothered me as I sat waiting.  I didn’t know what He was doing, He seems to enjoy secrecy sometimes.  He didn’t even want my help, if you can imagine that.  Continue reading →

Front and Center

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My cat Rocky laying right in front of the computer monitor, my youngest doing hand stands during commercials when we watch TV, the high school crossing guard waving his flourescent orange wands at me to stop, the ding of my phone notifying me I have a text message, my boss as he gives me a task at work – all want my attention.  For the moment, it’s as if each of them is saying “Hey!  Look at me, front and center here.”  We all need attention, some more than others.

God revealed to me (and it’s not the first time) ever so lovingly but firmly that I tend to seek too much attention for myself or be concerned that other people think well of me.  Facebook is one thing that makes this difficult.  It’s a treasure trove of attention:  people responding to things I say, to pictures I post, to jokes and videos I share.  People commenting about me or my life, interacting with me, giving me virtual pats on the back.  Even my blog brings me attention in a round about way.

When God showed me an ugly, childish attitude that was bubbling up this morning I was embarrassed and frustrated and it comes from being too preoccupied with myself.  Continue reading →

Refresher from Physics 101

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Krissy and I read a great devotional thought this morning written by Dan Haseltine of Jars of Clay, in the daily email devotional I get from Relevant Magazine. (I love Relevant by the way.)  He related Sir Isaac Newton’s laws of motion to our life of faith in this world.  It gave me some great “ponder fodder” or food for thought as I drove to work.

If you took Physics in school, you remember that the first law of motion basically says that an object, once moving, will keep moving unless some outside force encounters or impacts it.  Continue reading →

Final Scene

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I’ve heard lots of songs, read lots of blog posts, and had lots of conversations with people lately about disappointment, having to resort to Plan B, C or D, disillusionment over life not turning out the way we expected it to, and wondering why God doesn’t stop bad things from happening or doesn’t answer prayer how we think He should.  It has made me wonder – are people feeling like that more than before?  Why?  Or am I just noticing it more because I’ve felt like that this year? Continue reading →