To Know Him

     Not a lot of us really open up to allow others to really know us.  However, God knows all there is to know about our every thought and reason for our actions. 
     What I consider most important is that God wants His people to really know Him.  The Message put it like this in Hebrews 8, "They won't go to school to learn about me, or buy a book called God in Five Easy Lessons.  They'll all get to know me firsthand, the little and the big, the small and the great.  They'll get to know me by being kindly forgiven, with the slate of their sins forever wiped clean."
     Again in John 14 when talking with Thomas, "Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.  If you really know me, you will know my Father as well.  From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him."

The Murderer

     Jesus chose to die on the Cross.  He did it to save all people from the sin we continually choose to place in our live.  So, even though Christ chose to die for us in order to provide grace and an eternal life to His people, we placed Him on that Cross.  I am so very grateful, that though it all, He planned it, knowing who I really am, and still loves me.

The Murderer

Who was enticed 

to kill Jesus Christ?

Who did this heinous crime,

rejecting a love so sublime?

Here was an unjustifiable death, 

drawing blood and the Savior's very breath. 

Imagine a painting, a picture;

a hate-filled mixture;

A mob yelling, screaming,

tears streaming;

A Savior on the Cross, bruised and bleeding;

God's Son, in pain, forgiving

while taunters chose pretentious living. 

Look at the tortured Man within the scene, 

 yet willing to wipe sins clean. 

Who was responsible for this brutal act

upon a Savior, come to keep life intact? 

Who did this deed?

Who took the lead? 

Who was this murderer, 

this cold-hearted slaughterer?

It was me, it was you, it was all of us

in our sin, standing thus.   

                      Mary Crisp Jameson

Remember Me!

     I think, deep down, we all want to be recognized for something we have done or accomplished.  There is a yearning to be remembered.  I know that I, personally, would love to be able to have a few of my children's picture books published.  Although unsuccessful in finding a publisher, it really does not matter.  When I really think about it, I have already succeeded in my very best accomplishment.  I will truly be remembered by the One who counts, for my name is already written in the Book of Life. 
     I have no other real goal than to stop fretting and worrying about not having my name on the cover of a published book.  Instead, I plan to let my praise for God and His glory shape my life.  I want to fill my heart and mind with the Father who remembers me daily.  I want to think on how The Message put it.  I need to think on "the best not the worst, the beautiful not the ugly,  things to praise, not things to curse." 
     If I dwell on my love for God and His Son, giving Him the glory for His sacrifice on the cross for me, I can be quite content.  No one else needs to remember me other than the Father and Creator of this world and of my life.

Test Your Armour

     We are told to "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."  What is this armour?  "Having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication..."  
     To be filled with truth and dressed in the armour of strength and knowledge, I need to be praying and be in the word of God.  I need to put everything to the test through the Word, through Jesus Christ.
     I need to T-est
                    E-very
                    S-ingle
                    T-hought 

Fruit of the Spirit

     We are warned in Galatians 5 about living by the acts of the flesh: "sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;  idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions  and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like."  When we become Christians, we are to be more Christ-like. 

     We need to exchange idolatry for faithfulness; hatred for love, fits of rage for peace and calm, dissensions for forgiveness; and the like. 

     There is to be a different kind of fruit growing within our lives:

F- orgiving spirit     

R- ejoicing in suffering

U- ttering daily prayer

I- ntimately seeking Jesus

T- emptation resistance and Truth living

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." 

Keeping the Faith

     Many often ask, "How do I keep my faith when bad things happen?" or some may say, "How do I tell others about Jesus when I may be scorned or laughed at?"

     Paul gives us an example of what we must do and trials to expect.  But it is all worth it for the cause of Christ.
     After Paul's conversion on the way to Damascus, he lived his life for God.  In 2 Corinthians he describes many of the trails he faced as a missionary to the people.
     "Paul was jailed, beaten and at death's door.  He was flagged 5 times with the Jew's 39 lashes, beaten by Roman rods 3 times, pummeled with rocks once.  he was shipwrecked 3 times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day.  He was in hard traveling year in and year out.  He had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes.  He'd been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those he though were his brothers.  He knew drudgery and hard labor, many a lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather.  He knew daily pressures and anxieties of all churches.  He felt humiliation.  He even had to crawl through a window in the wall, let down in a basket, and run for his life"
     Why did Paul do it all? And, how did he keep the faith?  The answer is given.  The Lord said, "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness."  Paul states, "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then I am strong."

Light in the Heart

     I always prefer light to darkness.  Not only do I want my yard to be lite up, but I want my heart to be bright and shiny too.  Maybe, that is why I enjoyed reading The Message version of 2 Corinthians. 

"We don't fence you in.  The smallness you feel comes from within you.  Your lives aren't small, but you are living them in a small way.  I'm speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection.  Open up your lives.  Live openly and expansively!"

     If I can remove the smallness in my life by the way I live and think, and with love toward others, then I believe my heart will be lite with light through Jesus Christ. 

     To enhance my understanding I also read the KJV and the NIV versions.

KJV: "O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.  Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels.  Now for a recompense in the same (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged."

NIV: "We have spoken freely to you Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you.  We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us.  As a fair exchange-I speak as to my children- open wide your hearts also."