A Heart For Jesus

“Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.” 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 What does it mean to be established? I found this definition, “established means to make firm or stable; to cause to grow and multiply; to confirm, make fast, strengthen”. It is God who makes us stand firm in Christ. He anoints us, He sets His seal of ownership upon us, He puts His Spirit in our hearts! This is something that is so overwhelming to me at times, that God takes the initiative. He makes the first move so to speak, He pursues us! Look at Philippians 2:13 for example, “for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” His Spirit within us, helps us to do what is pleasing to God! Or Ezekiel 36:26-27, where it is God who says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will ...

  “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Ephesians‬ ‭2‬:‭10‬ ‭ESV‬‬ "We are his workmanship", just want to reflect on that thought for a moment. In Genesis, it does say that we have been created in the image and likeness of God. (Genesis 1:26-27). I read a book once by Tony Evans called, "Called for a Purpose”. I love how he compares the sculptor Michelangelo to God’s creating us. "The great Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet Michelangelo once said", “In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it.” Isn't that awesome! And God sees us the same way! He sees what we can and will become! But it takes "chiseling" away the things that keep us from becoming a...

  “and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,” Ephesians‬ ‭2‬:‭6‬ ‭ESV‬‬ As I’ve mentioned once before, some verses in the Bible are very challenging for me to grasp, this is another one of those,  so I thought I’d share my thoughts as I struggle to understand:) Our verse for today says that it is God who has raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly places. How is this so? What exactly does Paul mean by the “heavenly places? And how can we be there and here at the same time? I know he also teaches us, in  Philippians 3:20, that this is not our home, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,”(NKJV) ‭ But since we are here on earth, I’m not sure how we can be two places at once? Maybe not literally, as I usually take things, but figuratively, we are with Jesus in the heavenly places? Paul says in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Chr...

  “My soul longs for your salvation; I hope in your word. My eyes long for your promise; I ask, “When will you comfort me?” For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke, yet I have not forgotten your statutes. How long must your servant endure? When will you judge those who persecute me? The insolent have dug pitfalls for me; they do not live according to your law.” Psalm‬ ‭119‬:‭81‬-‭85‬ ‭ESV‬‬ I love Psalm 119, it’s packed with so many nuggets of truth and wisdom to live by. It’s hard to choose which ones to start with but these particular verses, 81-85, stood out for me.  Especially starting with verse 83. “Though I am like a wineskin in the smoke, I do not forget your decrees.”(NIV) What does it mean, “like a wineskin in the smoke? I found this definition. “A wineskin repeatedly exposed to smoke would shrivel up and harden until it lost its flexibility and became useless”.  Perhaps the Psalmist is saying, he felt dried up, useless; maybe he felt a bit hardened or bi...

A lot of my devotional readings as of late, have been on the topic of prayer. Praying without ceasing; being watchful in prayer; being thankful in prayer. So I wondered, what about Jesus? What was praying for Him? We know He often went off to pray, but what did He pray about? I found the following Scripture, so I thought I would share my thoughts. “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission”. Hebrews 5:7 “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions”. Notice this verse says, “during the DAYS of Jesus’ life”.    He didn’t just pray once and done, but Jesus was always in communication with God his Father. Jesus brought everything to the Father in prayer. Then notice how Jesus prayed… “with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death…” this part of the verse really stood ou...

  “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.” Job‬ ‭13‬:‭15‬ ‭NIV‬‬ Think about the meaning of what Job is saying in this one short sentence. “Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him”. ‭‭ To “slay” something is to kill; strike down. Sounds pretty harsh doesn’t it? I think what Job is saying is that even if the Lord kills him, he will still place his hope in the Lord! Which begs the question, can I truthfully say my hope is in God no matter what? Even if He kills me? What about you? This made me think of the story of Esther in the Bible. She was going to go before the king, without being summoned first, in hopes of saving her people, and decided to be courageous and basically said, “If I perish, I perish”. Or the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel. They were threatened with being thrown into the fiery furnace if they did not bow down to the kings image, but they would not, they in essence told the king that even if their G...

  ”I said, “I will guard my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth with a muzzle, so long as the wicked are in my presence.” I was mute and silent; I held my peace to no avail, and my distress grew worse.“ ‭‭Psalm‬ ‭39‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭ESV This Psalm really stood out for me, so I thought I would share some thoughts. What I think David is saying, is he will guard his ways; watch what he says so he may not sin with his tongue. He will “muzzle” his mouth as long as the wicked(enemy) are in his presence. But what strikes me is he also says, in effect, the longer he remains silent and holds his peace, the more distressed he feels! What a quandary! Have you ever felt this way? I know I have! When the negativity around me gets to be too much, when I get tired of the hate filled rhetoric and weary of listening to it, I can feel the stress building within me, my heart starts to pound, indigestion starts to flare up, my head starts to hurt and I can feel my BP rise. I feel l...