Thursday, February 27, 2014

Rememberance

1 Corinthians 11:23-26
23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.

Jesus said ‘Do this in remembrance of me’   What is it we need to remember?

We need to remember how Jesus came to the world. He came as the least of us. At one time He was the very tiniest. He was born in a stable. He did not enter this world with ceremony as some would expect from a King. The King of Kings.

We read of His miracles and the amazing healings as He walked on the earth.

He was brought before His enemies and judged and beaten. We remember Jesus being lead to the cross carrying it on His shoulders. He hung on the cross for our sins.
I wonder where I would have been in that crowd that day.
I know that before I was a Christian I would probably be the one shouting ‘crucify Him’ and hurling insults.
My sin was on that cross. Your sin was on that cross. Our sin was upon Him. We were there.

Romans 5:6-11
When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. 10 For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. 11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.

When we remember His body offered up in our place and His blood shed for us and we partake of the communion we are declaring the amazing work that was done on the cross. We make a proclamation that Jesus died for us.

And now because of what Christ has done for us we can be sure that if we were standing at the foot of the cross and looking upon our Lord’s suffering that we would be the ones weeping with sadness and with joy because He has made us friends of God.


Father we thank you for the gift of your Son, Jesus Christ. We remember the greatest day in history when we were reunited with You, restored and redeemed. But most of all we remember the Love you have for us and the joy we can now be a part of. In Jesus name we pray Amen.


Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Hey! Watch Your Mouth!


James 3:5-6 In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches.
But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.

Boy is my mouth a whole lot of trouble to me lately. Seems like the more tired I get the more my tongue just wags about nonsense. I don't watch what I say and to be honest I don't think first, mainly because when my brain is switched off my mouth thinks it can have a free-for-all.

*Sigh* What am I to do?

With our mouths we can bless one minute and curse the next. We gossip and say things about other people.
I have had things said about me behind my back and I cringe when others do the same about other people because I know how horrible it made me feel. People can form opinions about another person based on gossip. This is dreadful and yet in the last few weeks I have caught myself doing these things. I know right? I just want to crawl under the bed and hide. I have even said things to people! Now you must wonder what kind of person I am? How can I do these things? Hey I can't even believe it myself but it is true, sad to say.

But you know what I am grateful that I have made my heart open to God so that He can point these things out to me, I can repent and turn from my wicked ways and in doing that I get rid of a noxious weed. The fact that I am aware of what I have been doing is good. If I become aware of a weed in my life that needs pulling out and I do nothing about it I stand a very good chance of being choked by that weed later on.

So what can we do about this situation? Well in your quiet time with God ask Him to reveal the weeds in your heart. When they are out in the open and exposed, repent and pluck them out and burn that weed. Do not just leave it in there to die because it will just leave its seeds and then you are left with a lot of new little problems which will take twice as long to uproot. Make sure that when you hear gossip or talk from others to not join in but rather throw some 'water' over it and snuff it out. Do this when you open your own mouth too. Don't let flames of destruction exit your mouth.

Be careful what you hear and who you are listening to. Usually it is very easy to start speaking ill of someone or to be speaking about what so and so did when others are already doing it.

Ask the Holy Spirit to help you keep your words good and pure.

Luke 6:45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Whatever your heart is full of will spill out of your mouth.
I was watching Tak Bhana on ShineTV the other day and he had an illustration. He took two glasses of water half full. The one represented the ourselves and the other was the Holy Spirit. In order to be filled with the Holy Spirit we needn't empty the sin out of us we just needed to be filled with the Holy Spirit who would take care of the sin in our lives.
When our hearts are full of evil all that is going to come out of our mouths is evil. But when our hearts are full of the Holy Spirit and we have opened up our hearts to restoration, what comes out of our mouths is good and pleasing to God.

So yes my mouth has had some horrible things come out of it but I have decided that the Holy Spirit has full permission to take hold of my heart and restore it and clean house. It is painful and embarassing but we do not have shame nor do we allow shame to take a seat. It is all about being human and God's grace is sufficient for us. New are His mercies every morning.

So let us store an abundance of good treasures in our hearts so that when we speak we will bring only words that build others up and speak life.


Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Faith, Hope and Love

1 Corinthians 13:13

Faith, Hope and Love. Three of the most awesome words in the world. Faith gives you something to Hope for. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen. (Hebrews 11:1)

I think faith is awesome. I love having faith in God and in the things He can do and has done, through us and for us. I love how Hebrews 11 goes down the list of all those who and how through faith in God they achieved so much and did great things and had to step out into what God asked them to do. They saw God as faithful to do what He promised and so they stepped out in faith.
Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith.
 Romans 5:1-8
Through being justified by faith we have peace with God because of Jesus. It is through Jesus we have access through faith into the grace we stand in and we rejoice in Hope of the glory of God.
Romans 5:3 says that no only do we have this faith but we also rejoice in suffering because we know that suffering produces endurance, endurance produces, character and character produces hope and hope does not disappoint.

Hope does not disappoint or put us to shame.  When we have faith it bolsters our hope. Hope is not just like a wish, like 'I wish or hope you get well soon' or 'I hope all goes well' but it is something we have in Christ. It is sure and steadfast and the anchor of our souls. Hebrews 6:13-20 Faith gives us hope and hope anchors us. It means we aren't blown this way and that and we cannot drift off out in to sea. We are steady and sure and sound.

Now Love is the greater than faith and hope. It is greater because we read in John 3:16 and Romans 5:8 that God loved us so much and demonstrated how much He loved us through sending His Son to die on the cross while we were still sinners. While we were still the ones yelling crucify Him and mocking Him, He died for us so that we can know what Faith is and what it really means to have Hope in Christ Jesus. But most of all what it truly means to be loved with a Never Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love.

This Love will never leave us or forsake or abandon us. This love does not leave us as orphans, it doesn't stop on a bad day. God's love for us never gives up and is never broken under any circumstances. It will be there always and forever. Nothing can separate us from His love.

Trust steadily in God, Hope unswervingly and Love extravagantly. We love because God first loved us.

I remember as a young girl being totally overwhelmed by the love of God for me. I just wanted to see His face. I wanted to look upon the face of Jesus, who died to save me. Today I understand He loved me so much He was willing to take on my filthy sin onto His pure and clean body so that I can live the life that was always purposed for me.

I pray that you too will understand what faith and hope are but most of all I pray that you will be overwhelmed with the love God has for you.