From My Heart

1 Peter 1:6-9  "In this you greatly rejoice, thought now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls." Having just spent a week on an Army base, I am just full of all kinds of military metaphors. Considering that the base I was on was Fort Knox, the gold theme seems to fit as well... As I read the scripture above, the thought came to my mind that life is like boot camp for eternity. I have never been through boot camp, but we have two boys who have been there and done that. I have heard the descriptions,...

Matthew 21:21-22 "...I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."  Larry and I enjoy going to the Smokey Mountains on vacation from time to time. We love the peacefulness and quiet of being surrounded by nature and God's creation. I look at those mountains and, even though they are small in comparison to many ranges, they look enormous to me - especially standing on the top of one looking down! To think that I might be able to speak and one of those mountains and it would move is an incomprehensible thought to me.  Overlook from Blue Ridge Parkway. Smokey's in the background. In the scripture in Matthew, Jesus was giving us an indication of God's power - not ours. This is not the power of positive thinking at work. This is whe...

Luke 11: 9-10 "...Ask and it will be given to you: seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." Are you looking for something? Needing some direction? Waiting for a door to open? Do you think the door is open and you aren't sure you are to walk through? Over the years, I have done a fair amount of traveling. Some very distant and some local related to my job. One thing that is incredibly frustrating is to be in a strange place and not know where you are. Before I had a car with GPS, I would fight with paper maps, have to stop and ask for directions, have to make a phone call to find out if I was headed the right way. I have done home health for many years, and I remember going to see a new patient one day. I should have known it was going to be a haul because she lived in a place called Ft. Lonesome. I called the caregiver ahead of time and got dire...

Matthew 18: 21-35 "Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, 'Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?' Jesus answered, 'I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven.'" Forgiveness. All of us want to be forgiven, rarely do we find it easy or desirable to forgive. In this parable of Jesus, it seems to be the perfect picture of our dilemma. In the verses following his coversation with Peter, Jesus goes on to describe a man who owed a debt and begged for forgiveness. His master did just that and cancelled his debt. The man then went out and encountered someone who owed him a debt, but he could not return the same favor. He had his debtor thrown into prison. Unfortunately, his original benefactor learned of his behavior and not only had him imprisoned, but tortured until he could repay what he owed. Dictionary.com defines to forgive as "to cease to hold blame, to free from debt or obligation." Accor...

Matthew 16: 15-16 "But what about you?" [Jesus] asked. "Who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." And what about you? Who is Jesus to you? I think about his own disciples as I write that. In the verses just preceeding these, they didn't step out with a profound answer based on their personal knowledge of him. They simply regurgitated what the culture said he was. They stated what the world's view of Jesus was. Is he just a good man? Someone who lived an exemplary life, but wasn't really God. Is he a prophet? One sent from God to share his word, but, again, not God himself. A great teacher? Or even as one cult that is prominent in the news right now would have us believe, he was just our brother, born no differently than we are and he has made his way to becoming a god among many gods, which is what we are all destined for (all men, anyway). Who IS he? Peter gave the answer. The Chri...

Matthew 14:27-32 "....Jesus immediately said. 'Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid.' 'Lord, if it's you,' Peter replied, 'tell me to come to you on the water.' 'Come,' He said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, 'Lord, save me!' Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him..." Why is it the disciples were always caught in a storm on a boat? This time they are caught on the boat and Jesus is not with them. But in verse 26 they see him walking toward them on the water and they think he is a ghost! Can you even imagine? You are on a boat with huge waves pounding you and the wind going crazy, only to look over the bow and there is someone...or something...walking toward you ON TOP of the water. I can't say I blame them on this one. I might have freaked out a little, too. Jesus calls out to reas...

2 Chronicles 20:12b    "We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon You." Jehosaphat was the king of Judah and he had a problem. Several other kingdoms (Moab, Ammon, and Aram) had joined forces and were dispatching a "vast army" to attack Judah. Jehosaphat was alarmed, but he did not panic or call together a panel of advisors in his war room to try and decide how to handle this situation. He inquired of the Lord. Not only that, he proclaimed a fast for all of Judah and the people came together to pray and seek the Lord's help. In verses 6-12, he stands before the people and prays a wonderful prayer praising God and acknowledging His sovereignty. But I love the last line, "We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon You." I wonder what battle you are facing? I am facing a few. Decisions that weigh heavy on the heart and mind. Concerns for the future. Yesterday I wrote about letting Jesus carry our burdens, letting Him walk with us through...

Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden in light . " So tell me if this sounds like your life: "Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule, a little here, a little there" (Isaiah 28:11) Sounds like mine. Just keep going and doing and making everyone happy and spreading yourself too thin and pretty soon you are feeling like you can't put one foot in front of the other and the next thing you know you are weary and burdened. Yes, I know it is poor sentence structure, but don't you just get tired reading it like that! It's a "run on" sentence. Just like us it keeps going and going. One thing I am learning - I am not the Energizer Bunny. In the scripture in Matthew, Jesus gives us the picture of a yoke. A yoke is a wooden harness that fit ove...

Matthew 9:27-31 "As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him calling out, 'Have mercy on us, Son of David!' When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, 'Do you believe that I can do this?' ' Yes, Lord,' they replied. Then he touched their eyes and said, 'According to your faith will it be done to you' ; and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, 'See that no one knows about this.' But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region." What desperate need do you have in your life right now that you are bringing to the Lord for healing? Maybe it is a broken marriage, or a sick or rebellious child. Maybe you have a job situation that you just can't handle anymore. Maybe you have an illness that is affecting you personally. In the ninth chapter of Matthew, two blind men began to approach Jesus. In this day and time, blindness was a double curse. Aside from the ...

Matthew 8:26 "Jesus said, 'You of little faith, why are you so afraid?' " In my last post I talked about not worrying. I've been worrying. Tonight, I am asking the question, "What are you afraid of?" because I am afraid. In the passage where Jesus asks this question of his disciples, they were in a situation. They were in a little fishing boat, in the middle of the Sea of Galilee, in the middle of a storm. Wind and waves everywhere and nowhere to go but in the water. They were in a complete panic. Jesus was sleeping. Like a baby. I would like to think that I would be a better disciple than the disciples were. They had just seen him heal several people, they had seen him cast out demons, they had seen him do miracle after miracle. You would think they would be strutting around the deck of that boat with all the confidence in the world that Jesus could handle this little 'ol storm. I have a sneaking suspicion that I would have been in a panic right...

Matthew 6: 25-34 "Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life....And why do you worry about clothes?...So do not worry , saying, "What shall we eat?"...For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day  has enough trouble of its own." Dictionary.com defines "meditation" as continued or extended thought. It gives a synonym of "mulling over". In the ancient Jewish tradition, meditation did not always take on the yoga-like characteristics of sitting in the lotus postion and "emptying" your mind. It was a much more active thought process that included chanting or repeating verses from the Torah, visualization, deep thought and reflection on specific words or phrases. They even had a form of meditation...

Matthew 5:21-22 "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgement.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgement." So I had made up my mind I was going to be the only person in the world not posting about the Casey Anthony murder trial and verdict tonight...but some days you just can't leave things alone. (sigh) There are a lot of people angry over the "not guilty" verdict that was handed down today. Whether you believe she did it or not, any Christian should be able to relate. We have all received a "not guilty" verdict that we didn't deserve. The simple fact of the matter is that with God, there are no degrees of sins - only sin, period. And Romans is very clear about the fact that " all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." In John 8, when Jesus intervened with the woman caught in adultery, he never ...

John 8:31-32 " To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." I don't believe there is anyone more patriotic than I am. I tear up at the National Anthem and the sight of the flag. I can barely get through the Pledge of Allegiance. I appreciate the freedom that we have as Americans. That said, I am concerned about our country and the direction it is headed. We are beginning to lose many of the freedoms we have come to enjoy. There are many who say we need to reform our government and our laws, and you will get no argument from me. However, it is difficult to get people to buy into a value system where they have no vested interest. Yes, we need reform, but before that can happen people have to want it and believe in it. They have to have a change of heart. Jesus came to the Jews and told them that his teaching was the truth and the truth is what wo...

Matthew 3:11-12 "I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire." John the Baptist....definitely one of the more interesting characters in scripture. First cousin to Jesus, he comes out of the desert wearing weird clothes and eating weird food and telling people they need to repent. The Jews had not had a word from God in 400 years and when it finally comes...it's John the Baptist. Kind of makes me wonder what we would do with him if he were around today? One thing I love about John the Baptist - for him it wasn't about John. It was all about Jesus. John knew full well that he was the one coming to "prepare the way for the Lord". Picture it in a modern day setti...

Matthew 2: 1-2, 9-12 "After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, 'Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.'... After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star that they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house the saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned ina deram not ot go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route." I know, I know. It isn't Christmas. But I started reading through the gospel of Matthew yesterday and here I am at Christmas in July. The lessons we can learn from the Magi, though, are timel...

Matthew 1: 22-23 "All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 'The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel - which means God with us.'" Jesus came to earth so that God could be with us. Let's just stop and meditate on that for a moment. Why on earth - or in heaven as the case may be - would God want to be with us so badly that He would send His Son from the glory of heaven to live down here like a mere mortal human? If you really just stop and think on it for a few minutes, instead of becoming clearer, it only becomes more astounding and mind boggling. Why indeed? Not only is He with us but He is REALLY with us. I mean, I "dwell with" my husband, but I am not always in his presence. He doesn't always know exactly what I am doing nor I him. He definitely does not always know what I am thinking.... Psalm 139 gives us an idea of just how "with us" God is: "W...