Jesus is my Homey

 

Nope

I was reading my Bible this morning. Or rather I was clinging to my Bible this morning like a life preserver. Why? Because from the moment of waking I felt the weight of my unknown future looming before me.

I felt the questions such as, “Why would you quit a job with no prospects of money?” ” How are you are going to pay your bills?”and

the condemnations, “Your family will starve because of your poor choices.” “You will make God look bad because you didn’t understand what you were supposed to do!”

I needed a word and I needed it quick. I grabbed my devotional Bible and prayed for a word, opened it and read the following

They were surprised at his teaching—so forthright, so confident—not quibbling and quoting like the religion scholars.

Suddenly, while still in the meeting place, he was interrupted by a man who was deeply disturbed and yelling out, “What business do you have here with us, Jesus? Nazarene! I know what you’re up to! You’re the Holy One of God, and you’ve come to destroy us!”

Jesus shut him up: “Quiet! Get out of him!”

The afflicting spirit threw the man into spasms, protesting loudly—and got out. (Mark 1:22–26, The Message)

Interesting the immediate thought that popped in my head took me back a bit as it was from a show I have never seen ….more on that later.

First it is important to note that Jesus had just taught something in a way that the people could grab a hold of. It was going to change them and the enemy did not want that so he tried to change the subject.

The enemy wanted to get their mind off of what they had just learned.

That is how the enemy works. He likes to fill our minds with garbage, to distract us from the goals that God has for us.

 But I learned a lot from Jesus response. He did not try and reason with the voice that screamed loudest he simply said, “Quiet! Get out of him!”

And the voice that rushed to my mind…

the strange pop culture voice from the past that I heard was the voice of the somewhat creepy clown from In Living Color that said “Homey don’t play that.”

I just thought that is the way I am supposed to be when the voices come that try and distract me from trusting what God has in store for me. I am supposed to be like Jesus and tell them Quiet.

I waste so much time allowing the voices of fear and doubt and discouragement, to distract me from focusing on what matters.

To distract me from what God is teaching me and where He is leading me.

So the next time those voices threaten to fill my head, and waste my days, I will say louder….”BE QUIET!”

God, Bruce Almighty, where we should look

feet

Walking closely with God is mandatory for every Born again Christian.

And yet all too often we tend to run ahead or lag behind. Until, of course, things heat up. Then we stick to God like glue.

I know this because this has been my life.

Even in my closeness with God I often do not allow Him the space to do the work that He wants to do in me and my life, to bring me into wholeness.

But all that is about to change. I believe that He is calling me to walk closer with Him than I ever have before.

In the movie Bruce Almighty there is a scene where God rejoins Bruce after he has misused some “godlike” powers he has been given.

God finds him “parting the red sea” of tomato soup. What God says to Bruce during that scene was so subtle that when I first watched the movie I did not notice it.

When I finally did notice it, it blew me away.

In that scene you could tell that God realized that Bruce simply did not get who God was, because if Bruce did he would not be acting the way he was.

So God said gently, “Come take a closer walk with me.”

I love that. I thought at first he said “Let’s go take a walk.”

But what He in essence said was “Bruce you think you know me and what I am all about, but come and walk closely with me and find out who I really am, and in the process who you are.”

So Bruce walked with God.

At first He kept his eyes so on God that he never even noticed where God took him.

When He finally looked away He realized that He was walking on water.

That is how it is supposed to be.

That is God heart for us.

We are supposed to keep our eyes so fixed on God that He is able to do the miraculous in and through us.

We limit God by our disbelief.

He tells us In Isaiah 41:10

   Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.

   Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.

   I will strengthen you and help you.

   I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

If things are hard in your life then look to God.

If things are great in your life that look to God.

Allow Him the space and He will lead you to places that you never thought you would go.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bible Verse = Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation, 3rd ed. (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2007), Is 41:10.

Photo = © Alis Photo – Fotolia.com

We interrupt this blog for an important message…

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How trusting God caused my world to come crashing in

crash

This the update to my “A Christmas Miracle” blog post. For those that did not read it…basically God led me to have nothing prepared for Christmas for my family.

And to spend my money on other (needed) things and to trust Him to make it right.

Because I have four children (who are not so little anymore but still live at home), and because those children are used to getting spoiled at Christmas (even when I cannot afford it), this caused me great anxiety.

Every time I thought of how (potentially) my last Christmas with my children all under one roof would be an empty one, I began to feel like my world was crashing in around me.

But Faith

Yet I kept coming back to faith…simple, uncomplicated faith!

How could I trust Jesus to “save” me when I refused to trust Him to feed me. How could I trust him for all eternity when I could not trust him for one Christmas?

On my own I was shaky so I had to get back to solid ground.

I got out my Bible and read about how

The Scripture says, No man who believes in Him

[who adheres to, relies on, and trusts in Him]

will [ever] be put to shame or be disappointed.

(Romans 10:11 Amplified version).

I thought of all the people watching how all this “trusting God” business is going to play out… I realized that trusting God for Christmas is just a trial run for England and the rest of my future.

So I just allowed Him  the space He needed to show His goodness.

Any boy did He ever!

The Result

In the interest of brevity (something I am told is important in a blog post, and is something I am not very good at) I will just say that not only did God provide for every need we had (food, drink, etc) but He also took the focus off of the things and put it on our time together (not to mention Him).

As a result I spent two solid days hanging out with my family and talking and laughing…

We also went bowling…yes bowling. We are not big bowlers but we went on Christmas eve…at God’s leading…so much fun! And so many beautiful moments…like when I watched one child help another…so cool.

The Topper

And to top it off, God made sure there was a present for each of us under the tree…they were beyond awesome…mine made me cry because it is something I have wanted for a very long time.

There was a defining moment when we watched something on tv and one of the main characters said something like “people don’t often realize when they are living them, that one day these will be the moments that they wish they could re-live .”

Then it hit me

What gift God gave to me.

The Gift

The gift of foresight. How being able to drink in every second and really live in the moment with my beloved family.

In the hustle and bustle of Christmas, and daily living,  so many great moments often go unnoticed.  This gift of clarity has been a wake up call to me. I pray that I steward this gift well.

One Last Thing

He showed me that just as a bowling pins scatter, they are always made straight and set upright in the end…just like those who trust in Him.

Is your world crashing in around you? Trust in Gods good plan for your life and you will not be put to shame.

 

Photo = © cherezoff – Fotolia.com

This man did what?

Not many people enjoy going to the doctor, but according to Reuters, in 1994, one London accountant took that to an extreme. The sixty-three-year-old man knew he needed bladder surgery but he could not overcome his fear of doctors and hospitals. So he self-reliantly did what had to be done: He tried to perform the surgery on himself. Tragically he got an infection from the self-surgery and later died. The coroner said, “Unfortunately, [his] drastic remedy went wrong. A simple operation would have solved the problem.”

Just as this man didn’t trust doctors or hospitals, many people don’t trust God. In their self-reliance, they destroy themselves.

 

Story taken from

Contemporary Illustrations For Preachers, Teachers, & Writers Editor Craig Brian Larson, Baker Books, p. 272.