I don't know who created this image but I dearly love it. (I hope there is no copyright penalty for using it. If I knew the artist, I would give them full credit. It was on the inter net so I assume it is for public use.)
As someone who was an abused child, I give great meaning to this scene. Let's consider this image together.
The child has a most content look on his/her face. We don't know if this is a boy or a girl so we understand anyone can relate. I see "child" in this little person: the shy, the playful, the innocent. He/she is very comfortable. There is no fear. They are happy to have all the attention placed solely on them at this moment; reveling in the company.
I believe this is how our loving Heavenly Father intends for us to feel: safe, secure, trusting, confident, doted on - loved. He wants us to accept His Son as our atonement, the sacrifice paid for us. We can feel clean and free to allow Him in anytime.
Then, there is Jesus. His hands folded and space between him and the child. No threat here. He is not invading the child's space. He is not even reaching out to the child. There is genuine interest in His expression. He is totally in the moment: there is only Him and this little child. He makes no pretense to be anything other than the simple and humble person that He is. His figure towers over the child but is not overwhelming - does not threaten but, rather, seems protective.
This is my Savior. He is not pushy. He does not come in to me unless I ask Him to. He never forces Himself. He respects my space and my choices; right or wrong. I am free to make those choices with confidence He will be available if I need Him for advice, shelter or forgiveness. He dotes on me and wants only to help, to see me safe, happy and healthy doing His will.
They are sitting on solid rock, surrounded by rock; symbolic of the strength of Jesus as the cornerstone of life; our security for eternal life.
Notice the light that surrounds the head of Jesus. Halo? Light of the world? Light in the darkness? All of the above.
Notice also the vine around the stalk. Jesus is the vine. He is the stalk and we are the branches.
There was a lot of thought and planning put into the structure of this image. God put a lot of planning into His master plan for us. Jesus is the central part of that plan.
Now, take a look at this scene:
The child has consented to sit on the lap of Jesus, in his hands and we see from his/her posture there is no fear. The child is relaxed, at ease, content, feeling safe and happy.
Jesus is smiling, happy to have us secure within his hands. He is offering happiness and safety. This is a confident man. No one would dare confront Him to take us away now that we have consented to accept Him. We are His and He is ours.
Amen
We live with miracles every day. God, our Father, wants us safe, healthy and prosperous.
Think: how many times and how many ways have you been saved from near tragedy? Sometimes you have to be away from the situation in order to see it. God is always close to us. I mean, He is as close as living inside of us.
Once we accept Jesus, He never leaves. He comes and makes His home within us. Jn 14:23
Let me share a story from my misspent youth: I had been out late one evening, by myself. (I preferred to go by myself because there always seemed to be a "situation" if I went with a friend. I had some wild and crazy friends.) Anyway, I was out drinking in the bar of a bowling alley that I frequented because there was a young crowd, the music I liked, a friendly bartender and I knew a few of the clientele. It was clean and fairly up scale in a nicer part of town. You never know. Good and bad looms everywhere together. Personally, I believe the more good that is present, the more evil is lurking.
That particular night, the crowd was rowdy. There was a young woman in the crowd that had too much to drink and she was making a physical spectacle of herself and taunting male clientele by removing parts of her clothing while standing on a table. The bartender had a couple of her friends remove her and take her home. I decided it was a good idea for me to call it a night and left for my car in the well lit, parking lot.
I had just put the key in my car's door lock and opened the door when I was pushed inside. I landed, face up, on the seat with my legs dangling outside. A stranger was looming over me and coming in on top of me. The only thing I can remember is thinking to my self, "Oh God".
Funny how a short simple prayer can be all you need. The fact that you just think of God when you need Him shows faith. I had been dedicated to God as an infant, been baptized and went to church regular until the age of 18. I knew of God's existence. God knew me even though I had become a wayward "prodigal". This simple prayer was all that was needed.
I have no idea what happened in the next few moments of time. The next thing after seeing this man looming over me, I was behind the wheel with my car door shut, and locked. The man was outside my window knocking on the glass and yelling. I was anxiously trying to put my car key in the ignition, which I did and drove off. Surely, you can understand how upset I was and I have never forgotten that simple prayer that has worked for me several times since.
When you belong to God (by belief in His Son), He never lets you go. You are never alone again. He loves you and only wants you to believe in Him; just accept Him as our Creator and Savior. He makes it so easy for us.
Every miracle is not always so dramatic. More often, they are small miracles throughout the day. Many times, we do not even recognize them as miracles. Many times we are not aware of them at all. We can be delayed in traffic in order to save us from a wreck. He can remove something harmful from our path that we will never know about.
It is an amazing thing to be a child of God.
Amen
We do not need great faith.
Jesus has faith in Himself; enough for all of us. Mk. 9:23. In this verse Jesus questions the man's faith in Him (Jesus) and replies that everything is possible for Him (Jesus). (Original Greek text leaves off the first word "believe" in v. 23 and shows a question mark: "If you can?" (Jesus acknowledges the man's doubt.) Jesus further states "Everything is possible for HIM who believes." (meaning Jesus). We only need to know that our Savior has enough faith for all of us. We can borrow from Him by just asking of Him for the faith we need.
We only need enough faith to believe HE can move our mountains and HIS faith will do it for us. We merely ask. After all, we have no ability to heal, yet we pray for others and miracles happen - through the faith of Jesus.
Amen
Do not stress; just ask. I like to say, "If you are worried, pray. If you pray, why are you worried?" Think about it.
Let go and let God. What makes you think that all your worry can do even an ounce of what God can do?
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| I love this picture |
Jesus worked on Sabbath to show us we should rest in Him. In all His parables sitting down refers to Him sitting down because we are so busy trying to fix our problems. When we sit (rest in Him), He will get up and do it for us.
There is strength in the calm. Listen for God's quiet voice to comfort, instruct, advise and direct. Jesus "sat Down" at the right hand of God after the resurrection; He is now our advocate to God the Father.
In the NT, there is no talk of "waiting on the Lord God" because He has already come.
He works through the meek and the weak just to show He is doing it for us. David was a boy when he killed Goliath, Daniel and Joseph were young boys when they were taken and promoted to high ranking offices that helped their people.
Christians are amazing people. Just the belief of a mustard seed is needed - the belief to ask. Not your faith; the faith of Jesus. I have the belief of a mustard seed but never moved a mountain until I showed belief in the ability of Jesus to change things. Mountains (problems) move.
Money problems? Jesus does not need money; He has the riches of the universe. He waits for you to show your belief in Him enough to ask. He says "believe in me". Like grace - You don't have to do anything. You cant' earn it. It's a gift. It's free. The grace of God/Jesus provides love, protection, generosity, understanding, tolerance and so much more.
We get so caught up in doing and pushing what WE feel He wants that WE forget Jesus can and will do it for us. WE want people to do good; WE want our family to believe; WE want what is best for our kids; WE know that the old hymns are the best; WE want the Pastor's wife to dress different; WE want the girls to stop dying their hair blue; WE want, WE want. We want because WE know what God wants and WE are sure WE are told to do this. Oh, come on. How dare WE presume to know the mind of The Supreme Being Himself ? Or His timing, or His goals? Or His unfathomable love and grace.
STOP IT !
Let go; relax. Jesus can do it all for you and . . . He wants to.
Amen
Well, it's Monday again and I had coffee in front of my favorite tel-evangelists on TBN.
When the coffee is gone and the programs are over, I have a little talk with my Heavenly Father. This morning, I say "thank you" which is usually reserved for bedtime. (Like counting sheep, only better.) I was raised to pray for others in the morning and thank God at night. This seems to help with too much self indulgence. Although, my Father in heaven is a generous father and I know I can ask for anything anytime.
After four half hour sermons, from four different speakers, I am feeling particularly good about my freedom as a Christian. (This is a pretty good way to start the week.) To be the righteousness of God, as a gift, through the sacrifice of Christ is so much more than we realize; so much more than we deserve. We do not have to work for anything. We just accept by believing of, and in Jesus and His resurrected life. That's it! I don't think about this as much as I should. It makes me very much at peace, with a lot less stress.
Christians are free from worry and fear. We will be saved through the rapture before the worst of the end times. We do not have to please God by working to do right. We do not have to feel guilt - it's been taken away. You can't change it. It's already happened. Whether you believe it or understand it. We are saved from this world now.
When God looks at a believer, He sees His Son, Jesus. In God's eyes we are as pure as our Savior Himself. His shed blood covers over all sin and God can only see Jesus' holiness. Yes, we are holy. We are ambassadors of heaven. We are apostles. We are brothers and sisters with Christ. We can lay all problems at the feet of our savior and he will plead our case for us. We can go directly to God, the Father and commune. And. . . He will answer us.
When a believer dies, he sleeps. He knows nothing. In a twinkling of an eye he wakes to the rapture with all other believers throughout history. This is an amazing thing to understand. Talk about reducing fear.
As Jesus is in heaven, so are we. We, as believers, can heal and be healed, teach and be taught, anoint and be anointed, give and take communion and receive the same standing as Christ Himself. Understand, we achieve this through what He did and the blood He shed - not by anything we could ever do. We are sinners; have been, are and will be until we are changed to that new life. Our sins no longer count against us. Even as we sin today, it is already forgiven - because we believe that is why Jesus died and rose.
Some time ago, I left a Bible study because the leader was teaching that a believer can lose their salvation. I guess, by committing a sin. At first, I thought we might just agree to disagree, as brother and sister in Christ. That does not work. For one thing, both of us stand firm in our belief.
Let me plead my case here: Did Jesus die for nothing? Is he saying that Christ needs to be nailed to that tree again so he can be saved every time he slips? I say, "NO". It is once and for all - like Paul said. Once died for all! It is done! We are saved. We are free! True believers WANT to do what pleases our Father because we know the love involved and the sacrifice from Him and The Son.
Let us be humble and take a few times today to reflect on all this. Let's go through our Monday being happy for the amazing blessings God has freely given to us through His most beloved son, that He is so proud of.
Amen
Sometimes we just need to hear it.
We definitely need to know it.
Are you depressed? Sad? Confused? Lost? Lonely? Lost control?
Talk to God.
I know, it sounds too simple. It is a cliche'. Maybe it's a cliché because it works. He loves you as an individual. He knew you in your mother's womb. He knows every thought you have and loves you anyway. He cannot not love you. He is the total capsulation of love.
You don't have to go to a great cathedral and use fancy words. Talk to Him while you work. Sit down with a cup of tea and talk to Him. Worried coworkers will think you crazy? Just project your thoughts His way. He can read your mind. He knows the secrets in your heart and mind that you have buried. He understands what you feel. Of course He will hear you. We so often underestimate Him.
Read His word. Don't know where to start? John is a great book. Try the Palms or Proverbs. You can find reassurance and answers there. What day of the month is it? Pick that number and read that Psalm or that chapter of Proverbs. He will speak to you.
Think of how much He loves you. A mighty spiritual being that lives outside of time and space made Himself a minute speck of flesh and blood to become acquainted with what it feels like to be human. He left His place of serene paradise to come to this earth of pain and suffering to know you; to spend time with people; and, He enjoyed life.
Then, He made the ultimate sacrifice to be tortured beyond recognition and die in agony so we might have a chance to know that serenity in paradise with Him forever.
Think on the calm, quiet, still, order and health He offers you. Just sit and think about it.
What do you need? Ask Him for it. Nothing fancy here, either. All you need to do is think what you need and direct those thoughts toward Him. He already knows but just wants enough faith from you for you to ask. Your Father wants to give you your hearts desires; to see you happy and well.
Then, thank Him. Thank Him and go on with your day believing that this Man/God loves you so much that your slightest want or need is His absolute joy to give you.
Jesus loves YOU
What a beautiful God we have.
Amen
To God's holy people in this world, Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
(Paraphrased greeting from Apostle Paul to the Ephesians)
On this quiet Sunday morning, I would like to share my favorite psalm with you: Psalm 91
Whoever dwells in the secret place of the Most High (Jesus)
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty
I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God in whom I trust".
Surely He will save you from the fowler's snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with His feathers,
and under His wings you will find refuge;
His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
You will not fear the terror by night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
You will only observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.
If you say, "The Lord is my refuge",
and you make the Most High your dwelling
no harm will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
For He will command His angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
"Because He loves me," says the Lord,
"I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation."
This is a promise of protection to all who believe in Him. What a wonderful protective father is our God.
Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.
(Eph 6:24)
Amen
