The Wood that Once Cradled the Messiah

 

A baby born in a manger

the Lord God made flesh, our Savior.

Born to die was he, the man of sorrows

and yet our triumphal King.

The wise men laid all things at his feet,

the feet that were later nailed for you and me.

The wood that once cradled the Messiah,

would later become the wood where we hung

his frail body to bleed on the cross.

Oh, what wonderful salvation he brought.

Lowly he came, gloriously now he reigns,

our King of kings.

When he comes again, his redeemed home

he will bring.

Not to deal with sin, but to save those who

eagerly await to sing.

They will proclaim his praise, for the eternal

Ancient of Days we will see face to face.

The earth will not be able to contain His glory,

And it all began when that baby shone the

light of heaven in his eyes,

bringing us the Christmas story.

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Mary, mother of Jesus has always stood out to me when I retrace the wonders of our Lord’s first advent. The angel Gabriel came to her, telling her that God chose her to be the one to carry the Savior. Her response, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 2:38). I can’t imagine the feelings that arose in her, a young virgin, carrying the Son of God in her womb? Hope began to arise in her as baby John leaped in Elisabeth’s womb, a foretaste of the joy he would bring to his people. A BABY rejoiced, leaped within her! We call Mary blessed as we lift up the holy name of our God.

The season of advent points us to what many theologians call the “already but not yet”. When I think of Mary giving birth to Jesus, my mind goes to Romans 8 where this saying is shown. Paul states:

“For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we are saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”

 – Romans 8:19-25

The Lord has shown me over the course of this month that our hearts are supposed to use this time to prepare for his second coming. His birth points us to the cross, then to the coming of his Kingdom. In the gospel of John, Jesus is using the analogy of birth to explain the depths of his death and resurrection. He explains:

“ When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” – John 16:21-22

What a thrill of hope, the weary world truly does rejoice. Nothing can take away our joy in him! This world increasingly gets worse day by day, and our hearts cry out with John in Revelation 22:20. “Come, Lord Jesus!”. This circles back to the JOY Mary felt, cradling the sweet babe she had just given birth to. As the shepherds approached Mary and Joseph, Mary took in all that was happening, listening to the shepherds, she “treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). May we store up this hope within our own hearts and take the time to ponder what lengths Jesus went through on his journey to the cross and what it took for his gospel to reach our ears. We are eagerly waiting for redemption, the day of peace where all the earth shall know the Lord.

Rejoice, the Lord has come!

“Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him to even subject all things to himself”. – Philippians 3:20-21

Pick Up Your Sword

 The Sword of the Spirit – Ephesians 6:17

“…and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God…”

How blessed are we to have God’s Word in full. We literally have the freedom to read God’s holy, breathed out Word at the tip of our fingers. The solution to ALL of our problems! This part of armor has always stuck out to me as the only offensive piece of armor, the Sword we can fight against Satan with. Sadly, as followers of Christ, we neglect this part of armor that is most essential in our daily fight with sin. Hebrews 4:12-13 tells us, “The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edge sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” How fitting are the verses in regard to Ephesians 6:17? Think of the Bible as a mirror. You look into it and see how disgusting your sin has made you. Scripture takes our eyes off of ourselves, and fixes our eyes on Jesus, our perfect Savior who makes us white as snow by paying off our sin debt with his blood. Without this mirror, how are we supposed to grow in sanctification?

My pastor once said God’s Word is the guardrails that keep us on the narrow path to the narrow gate of the Father’s Kingdom. In order to keep fixed on this path, we must believe that all of the Bible is God’s Word, the only real truth. It is inerrant which means without error and infallible which means incapable of being wrong. Paul in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 explains, “All Scripture is breathed out by God, profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” His Word not only completes us but equips us to do the work He started in us! In Philippians 1:6 Paul says with confidence, “And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Since we have this confidence, we can boldly proclaim the good news of the gospel to our family and friends. From a Ligonier article I read, the author quotes, “for as the Word is preached, sinners are rescued from the devil’s grip and believers see the sins for which they need to repent.”

It is essential to be in the Word daily. It is possible to do when you make it a priority in your life. Although it is possible, that doesn’t mean it is always easy to focus on. We have so many distractions always drawing our weak flesh’s attention off of the Lord. That is why I love what Paul wrote to the church of Corinth in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of OUR warfare are not of the flesh but we have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ…” Paul is making note that the weapons we have are spiritual, not material. These “strongholds'' mentioned in this passage are wrong thoughts and perceptions that contradict the Word of God. Since we know God’s Word is without error, it never contradicts itself or goes against what God has spoken. If we don’t understand something in the Bible, we have so many resources such as articles and commentaries to help us understand. We are not to change God’s Word, but our minds. As Paul says in Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” When we hold such a high view of Scripture and live by what it says, the world starts to notice. There will be so many people you encounter throughout your life who will try to get you to doubt what God has said by twisting the words of Scripture or trying to disprove it. Notice Paul’s wording when he says that we destroy ARGUMENTS and lofty OPINIONS. Those who come against God’s Word have nothing to defend themselves with but theories and opinions. We have absolute truth in the palms of our hands. It defends itself! As Charles Spurgeon once beautifully said, “The Word of God is like a lion. You don’t have to defend a lion. All you have to do is let the lion loose, and the lion will defend itself”.

We must not be like our first parents Adam and Eve who gave into the deception of Satan in the Garden in Genesis 3, causing sin to enter into this world. Jesus himself exclaimed in John 8:44 to the Jews at the time, “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies”. So now when we look at the fall of mankind, we see this demonstrated in verse one of Genesis 3, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God ACTUALLY say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?...” Not only did Satan make them question what God had told them, but he twisted His words. God specifically told them they could eat from any tree but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Listening to Satan, Eve thought God was withholding wisdom from them, in reality they wanted to govern their own lives by being their own god. This sin which was a “delight to the eyes” not only affected Eve, but she included her husband Adam by giving him some of the fruit, which affected the rest of us forever. Sin causes collateral damage. This is why we must fill our minds and hearts with Scripture so that we don’t have room for the enemy’s lies. In Matthew 4, our perfect Savior Jesus responded to Satan’s temptation after he was in the wilderness for forty days and forty nights. Satan quoted Scripture twice and tried to get Jesus to prove he was the Son of God. Despite being very hungry after fasting for so many days and being weak in his humanity, no word except his Father’s came out of his mouth and Satan left him. Who is a better example to follow than the Son of God himself?

The Bible is offensive because it exposes our sin, in which we have offenses against God.This is where the good news of the gospel comes in. Jesus Christ stood in our place when we stood condemned because of our sin. He took on the wrath of God that we deserve by dying in our place on the cross. He rose again fully defeating sin, death, hell, and the grave and rose from the dead three days later and is seated at God’s right-hand interceding for those who believe in him at this very moment. What better way to close this than ending with The High Priestly Prayer in John 17 that Jesus prayed for those who followed him just before he was arrested and later crucified. He prays,

“I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom You have given me, for they are Yours. All mine are Yours, and Yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, which You given me. I have guarded them and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction (Satan) that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have MY JOY fulfilled in themselves. I have given them Your Word, and the world has hated them because they are not of this world, just as I am not of this world. I do not ask that You take them out of this world, but that You keep them from the evil one. Sanctify them in the truth, Your Word is truth. As You sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for THEIR sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth”(vv. 9-19).

Praise God that we are always growing in sanctification as we soak in the Word. We are able to withstand whatever we face in this world because we have THE Sword. Pick it up and use it daily, pray for and proclaim the gospel to your family, friends, and neighbors, and watch the kingdom of Satan fall.

I Am Not Enough, but Jesus Is.

Genesis 1:27 – “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them”. For starters, all humans on earth are made in the image of God. We are the only creatures of His creation that can have a personal relationship with Him, the Creator. Because you are made by God you are valuable and set apart from the rest of creation.

Many people view the Bible as just a book for moral standards and think that’s the only reason why the Bible was written. If that were so, the Bible wouldn’t mention anything about the good news of Jesus Christ because we’d be good enough in our own eyes. Also, the Bible isn’t even about us, it is all about God and His story! In the book of Ruth in the first chapter, the author shows us the timeline of what was currently happening. The Judges (men who were rulers) were in charge at that time. In the previous book before Ruth, which is Judges, the central theme is that they “did what was right in their own eyes”. This led them to destruction and chaos.

In today’s culture, it feels great to feel confident, valuable, and worthy. It seems right to put yourself above others, because at the end of the day the world tells you all you have is yourself and what you make of yourself right? Those are always good things, until we make them who we are. If you truly were enough within your own being, there would be no need for Jesus. He made us to be dependent, not independent. We have all felt not enough at some point. Maybe you do right now. Luckily, we have Jesus, who on our behalf died to make us worthy of God’s love. The word “righteousness” means “the quality of being morally right or justifiable”. We have no righteousness of our own because Ephesians 2 verses 1 through 10 tells us,

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God”. Jesus took on every bad thing we have ever done and died because you and I are not enough. But through his death, if we have put our faith and trust in Jesus, when God looks at us, He sees His son Jesus, not our sin. That makes us more than worthy, because JESUS is the only person who is truly enough because he is SINLESS and we are SINFUL; and will always be because of our fallen nature. We will be in the presence of sin until Christ comes again, but that sin is not our identity anymore. But that day on the cross, he died and rose again for all places in our heart that feels empty. He fills us. None of us are good in our own nature. The psalmist David says in Psalm 14:2-3, “The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one”.

This flows into how we are in our friendships and relationships. When we are prideful and put ourselves first, that is not how we are called to love. In Philippians 2:3 the apostle Paul says, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves”. Only humble people love. If we tell each other that we are enough on our own or by ourselves, that does no good because that confidence eventually runs out. That leaves out the best part, the gospel! I have made the mistake of telling someone before, “You can’t love others until you learn to love yourself first”. That is far from the truth because loving others is sacrificial and not about you. If you want stability that lasts, look to Jesus! It is hard to feel the shame and loneliness that we feel at times. But take comfort in knowing that Jesus is more than enough to fill your emptiness. You can try to do things on your own but it will be much harder when the difficult and insecure times come. Look to His word and His promises to each one of you and believe that through Christ, you are beautiful in His sight. Philippians 1:6- “And I am sure of this that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ”. Our God is bigger than our failures, doubts, insecurities, and tragedies. I don’t know about you, but to me, it takes off so much pressure and stress knowing that my Jesus has won the fight in my heart. Let him do the same for you. 

*I wrote this to read to a group of high school-aged girls at a retreat my friends and I hosted back in June!*

Prayer that Prevails

Can I ask you, when you hear the word “fear” what is the first thing that comes to mind? I’m guessing its anything from spiders to death. The things you’re fearing now, is it something you’ve never had to worry about before? I’m sure your response would’ve been different 6 months ago. To me, fear is the first thing the enemy goes to get mind distracted from the goodness of God. It is so interesting how the human mind works when something is to be feared. For instance, when COVID-19 first became a common headline on the news, for some reason the whole world freaked out and bought a lifetime supply of toilet paper. I know at my house, we bought it just because we feared there wouldn’t be any left in stores! I think especially in the church body, we are seeing Christians fear like never before. I believe that has been the most discouraging thing to come out of this pandemic. Two posts ago I wrote about how to be encouraged in this time and to come out of this even stronger. Well, that was then, and this is now! I think I can speak for you too when I say I am over this! August 3^rd began my last year of high school. Currently, my school made the choice to do a hybrid-type schedule to divide up the students. I am very grateful I was given the choice to attend school or do online. I applaud every teacher and every staff member in general right now! Honestly, I’m not that concerned about being able to attend school. I am just mainly concerned about soaking in the privilege it is to be able to attend church. In the past year, the Lord has shown me the importance of having a church family and being in fellowship with other saints.

Pastor John MacArthur is a pastor I deeply admire and grow so much from his ministry in the Lord. I’m not sure if you’ve heard or not, but he is facing a multitude of criticism from not just unbelievers, but believers as well. His church is held in California where Governor Gavin Newsom has called churches to close. Pastor John has had his church, Grace Community open this whole time and whoever felt comfortable enough to attend, were more than welcome to. A few weeks ago, his church was packed full, no social distancing, no masks from what I could see. Just people hungry for the Word of God and to be in His house. That is amazing. For the believer, death is a reason to rejoice, not fear. As Apostle Paul proclaims in Philippians 1:21, “To live is Christ, to die is gain”. That verse has repeated over and over in my head, resting in the fact that death is the end goal for every believer. How wonderful to reach the end of the race and arrive in glory and praise our eternal King forevermore. I just have to say it, if you are a Christian, why are you living your life day to day in fear of dying from a virus? Not just a virus, but anything that can cause death. That’s not to say you can’t take precaution or love your neighbor by distancing yourself from them, but what is truly more loving? I think telling them about the one Person who can save their life from eternal punishment triumphs anything else. That’s what pastors do. Church is not meant to be virtual. God calls his people to come together (See Hebrews 10:24-25). The church doesn’t save us, Christ does. However, church is and will always be essential to every Christian. John Calvin once implied that it is the task of the church to make the invisible Kingdom visible. The world must hear the gospel. Souls depend on it.

I think another contributing factor to the intense fear believers have right now is because of the lack of prayer in our lives. Prayer is communion with God. It is how we talk to Him. We know that God appointed His Son to tear the veil between man and God to have a personal relationship on the cross. (See Matthew 27:51) We also know that “we do not know what to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words… [and] the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:26-27). What is so beautiful about prayer is that it is a time where we commune with all three members of the Trinity. Personally, I struggle with repeating a lot of the same things in my prayers and I am so thankful that God doesn’t get tired of that! I think the reason for that is because I want to make sure I cover every prayer request to the best of my ability that I remember. This past week I revamped my room. My walls were freshly painted white and I decided I would make this Bohemian design on my accent wall that I’ve seen trending around. It basically looks like arrows. I had a stencil that I used to draw a mark on the wall with pencil then paint over it. It was looking great and I began to clean up. Then I had the thought of just going over a couple of lines to make them look cleaner. Thirty minutes later, I was still trying to perfect the wall! My heart was even racing because I was anxious that I was going to mess the wall up. When I tell you the Holy Spirit was speaking… I just laughed and said, I hear you, Lord! He was clearly showing me that I am too much of a perfectionist. I put much weight on myself to make things just right, big or small. I think that is my issue with praying, I try to say the right things way too much when God has promised the Holy Spirit intercedes for me. Just the other day I began reading R.C Sproul’s book, The Prayer of the Lord. Just within the first chapter, the Lord revealed to me so much that I had taken for granted in the gift of prayer. Sproul refers to a question he would get asked frequently: “What good is prayer if we can’t change God’s mind?” Pause. I love Psalm 139:4-6 where David whispers out of the depths of his heart, “Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether, you hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it”. Once you read that, it makes so much sense that God knows everything, beginning to end, behind and before. Absolutely nothing surprises Him. So then why is prayer significant in our lives? The answer to that question and the one I mentioned before, Sproul says in this way, “Prayer does change things, all kinds of things. But the most important thing it changes is us. As we engage in this communion with God more deeply and come to know the One with whom we are speaking more intimately, that growing knowledge of God reveals to us all the more brilliantly who we are and our need to change in conformity to Him. Prayer changes us profoundly” (Page 14). Wow. My takeaway from that is that God doesn’t need to change His mind because He knows what we ultimately need and wants to give us better than what we ask, so nothing can change His Sovereign Will. On our part, as Sproul says, prayer changes US! Through prayer, we must remind ourselves that we are the creatures speaking to the Sovereign Creator. THAT knowledge is too wonderful for me too, David.

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 8:1 that “This ‘knowledge’ puffs up, but love builds up”. The more we come to know and love God, especially through prayer, we become more sanctified and humbler; using that knowledge through love to build up one another. Not to boast and become prideful. Another point that Sproul makes is that when the disciples came to Jesus and asked him how to pray, Jesus responded first with how not to pray. He warns them to not be like the hypocritical Pharisees who pray with many fancy words but have no change in their hearts (Matthew 6:5-7). A word that strikes me in that passage is this concept of a “secret place” or “secret heart”. I feel like I have been seeing this word everywhere. From what I have seen recently has been in the Psalms, such as Psalm 51:6, Psalm 139:15, Psalm 91:1, and now Matthew 6:6. I was so intrigued by this concept of a “secret” so I went to gotquestions.org (which sounds silly but it is an actual great solid website), and this immediately struck me. The website answers, “The idea of a secret place originates with God. Because He is a Spirit and His glory is beyond our ability to perceive, we must meet with Him in the secret places of the heart in order to commune with Him”. Thank you Jesus for communion. I believe we see the vital need of changed hearts all throughout the Old Testament whether it be in Judges, 1 & 2^nd Kings, Ezra, Nehemiah, and many other books that show us if we are ever going to love and obey God, we must conform to Him and let Him transform us from the inside out to the praise of His glory.

-          Ephesians 2:13-22 (My italics): “But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down the wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in the place of two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers or aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you are also being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit”.

We are made by God as a temple for His Holy Spirit. And we who dwell in the shelter of the Most High, abiding in His shadows, are there to stay (Psalm 91:1). Let’s not fall into the trap of forgetting who our God is. As Paul says above in Ephesians 2:14, He himself is our peace - Jehovah Shalom. He is our provider (Philippians 4:19) - Jehovah Jireh. He is our banner and reigns in victory (Exodus 17:15) - Jehovah Nissi. I’ll close with this graceful Puritan prayer if you’d like to read titled, “In Prayer” …

“O Lord, in prayer I launch far out into the eternal world. And on that broad ocean my soul triumphs over all evils on the shores of morality. Time, with its gay amusements and cruel disappointments, never appears so inconsiderate as then. In prayer I see myself as nothing; I find my heart going after thee with intensity, and long with vehement thirst to live to thee. Blessed be the strong gales of the Spirit that speed me on my way to the New Jerusalem. In prayer all things here below vanish, and nothing seems important but holiness of heart and the salvation of others. In prayer, all my worldly cares, fears, anxieties disappear, and are of as little significance as a puff of wind. In prayer my soul inwardly exults with lively thoughts at what thou art doing for thy church, and I long that thou shouldest get thyself a great name from sinners returning to Zion. In prayer I am lifted above the frowns and flatteries of life, and taste heavenly joys; entering into the eternal world I can give myself to thee with all my heart, to be thine for ever. In prayer I can place all my concerns in thy hands, to be entirely at thy disposal, having no will or interest of my own. In prayer I can intercede for my friends, ministers, sinners, the church, thy kingdom to come, with greatest freedom, ardent hopes, as a son to his father, as a lover to the beloved. Help me to be all prayer and never to cease praying”.

Blessings!

“The Lord your God is in your midst,
    a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
    he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing”.

-          Zephaniah 3:17

The Means of Serving

John 13 is one of my favorite chapters in the book of John. Originally, I wanted to write this blog around 2 and a half weeks ago when I read it on the 23^rd. I didn’t know that two days later our world would be devastated by the life of George Floyd that was awfully taken. As I type this, I pray over your heart that your eyes will open to how we should love, as our humble King Jesus first loved and served us.

Throughout the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John), we see a reoccurring theme of Jesus, God in flesh, becoming lowly as one of us “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many”(Mark 10:45) showing how the Father loves us. In chapter 13 Jesus “knew his hour had come to depart out of this world to the father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (v.1). After his last supper with his disciples, the night before he was about to give his life for many as Mark recounts, he fills a water basin and washes their feet. Okay, weird and gross! Remember back in this time, the people didn’t have nice luxurious shoes like we do or the quality bathing products. Oh, but how beautiful this is. Peter questions why Jesus is doing this absurd thing. Jesus responds, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand” (v.7). In Jewish traditions, it was unheard of a Master washing his disciples’ feet.

After doing this act of service, Jesus asks, “Do you understand what I have done to you? … If I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet” (v. 12, 14). The first thing we think is, nope can’t do it Jesus, that is NASTY! But Jesus used this act of service for a greater purpose. He was foreshadowing what was to come the next day on the cross. On that cross, he washed away our dirty sin like he washed the disciples’ dirty feet. His blood was poured out, covering what we should’ve been paying for. What other god, ruler, or king would take the form of a servant? None! Thank you, Jesus.

So, on to the topic I’ve feared to speak about. Racism has been around since the beginning of sin at the fall of our first parents Adam and Eve. Imago Dei. Genesis 1:27, “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them”. Not just black people, not just white people, not just asian people, or any race! He created a man and a woman. Jesus died for those men and women. As host of the podcast “Real Christianity” Dale Partridge puts it, “Racism, at its core, is a belief that says, ‘I am made in the image of God and you’re not.’ It is the sin of all sins because it calls God a liar”. That is powerful.

Do you ever pray something, but forget you asked God, and then boom. He places it right on your heart like you asked and He promised in the first place. That happened to me as I prayed the night of May 25^th the sometimes typical prayer that the Lord would open and break my heart for what breaks His. He’ll answer that one every time! This past Sunday night the Lord got a hold of my heart and began to change it. At the Bible study I attend with my parents, we gathered around the table to join in a meal together and catch up from the corona craziness. A woman and her children visited us and joined in. She was the only black person out of the 8 of us white people. She joined in seated next to me and we all had a great meal full of laughter and catching up, learning more and more about each other. Then the discussion of all that is going on in the world came up. My mom asked her, “what would you say to us, (being white people), that we could do and respond to help in this time?” The woman responded that we should educate ourselves, give grace to one another, don’t believe all that media says, and make more black friends! I loved hearing her speak on what we should be doing because I didn’t realize until that night, that I don’t know what is going on (besides social media) and this was the first discussion I had heard in person on race, white privilege, and BLM. The woman explained to us what she, her husband, and young children were processing in this time and how heavy their hearts are and the lament they were feeling. In this moment, I could see on her face how much she was hurting and she shed some tears. At that time and the rest of the conversation, I had to hold back from bawling. Hearing these things face to face and not what the news or influencers or any other person through a screen was saying, broke me. I am conservative, pro-life, and support President Trump as a Christian and a free American. Recently, I have been intrigued with learning more about politics and growing in the knowledge of the difference in right-wing and left-wing politics. If I’m not listening to music, I’m listening to a podcast and its either a political one or a biblical one. With the news always being on and seeing the riots and chaos happening, it made me mad. But on that night, the Lord was showing me that I have been placing what I think is happening in the world, over what God and His Word says. If I am a Christian, I should be identifying myself not as a white conservative, but an advocate for Christ! Pastor Matt Chandler said in his latest sermon, “You can’t just ignore the sorrow and lament of 12-13 million image-bearers in our country. You can’t do that! We mourn with those who mourn. Yes, there are demonic and evil ideologies at play, but that’s where the people of God are meant to RUN with light and the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and not sit back and snipe via social media”. He also brings up that you don’t just slap the Gospel like a band-aid on to a wound and preach on it, you act!

This is where John 13 comes in. How are we serving our brothers and sisters of every race, but specifically our black ones during this time, Christian? We pray for heart transformation through the Gospel in this world that loves darkness and points fingers at each other and plays the “blame game”. We love them by showing empathy and concern for how they are dealing with this heaviness in their homes and families. As the woman at my Bible study said, white people make black friends, black people make white friends! Racism will always be present in this world because sin is always present. We overcome this by putting on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18), taking up our cross, and dying to this sin (Matthew 16:24-28) that infests how we are supposed to respect and honor one another. As God loved the Son, Jesus loves us (John 15:9), and as the Father and Son love us, we are to love one another as He loved us and by this, all people will know that we are His disciples (John 13:34-35).

Sorry, this blog is a long one! But I’ll leave you with this. “Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the Word of LIFE…” (Philippians 2:14-16) & “For we do not battle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). Also, below are the beautiful lyrics to two songs by Melanie Tierce-Slay and her husband Kaden Slay which I have non-stop been listening to that give peace to us and worship & glory to the Father. I love you, person reading this and I’m praying for you. Be encouraged, be bold, and trust in the Lord.

 The Lord is so good. We bear His image. Christ bears our wounds. As my Pastor Brent Stephens at Four Points Church asked our congregation the Sunday after Mr. Floyd’s death, who are you being an ambassador for? A person, a political party, or Christ?

Colossians 1:13-14: “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins”.

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    What Love is Like:

When everything is wrong

And I want to make it right

When it seems injustice has the final word

When I want to run away or take up my sword and fight

Cause I just can't sit and watch the way we hurt

I see my Savior

Bound by accusers

Blessing the hands that take His life

And I hear Him saying

"Father forgive them"

Showing the world what love is like

Oh, can you hear Him saying

Put your weapons away and follow me

Faith will be my sight

I'll fall on my knees to rise

Until Your Kingdom comes in all the earth

And the darkness of the tomb

Meets the brilliance of the light

Yours will always be the final word...

Heal Our Land:

(2 Chronicles 7:14)

This is our confession

You're always selfless

And I have been proud

You laid your life down

Where I have not bowed

Oh, forgive me

You're always faithful

And I have betrayed 

You have shown mercy

Where I've sown hate

Oh, forgive me

I turn from my ways

To seek your face

And humbly pray

God heal our land

You see the hungry

And I turn my face

You move to help them

And I've run away

Oh, forgive me...

Don't Waste The Silence

What a weird time to be in currently in this world. My first ever pandemic experience! With school being out for the rest of the spring, I’ve had MUCH more time to do things and spend time wisely. I am loving being at home since I’m naturally a homebody (not so much anymore since I’ve started driving). Even though I’m not going anywhere, probably you can say too, that there is not enough time in the day STILL to do what I want to accomplish! If you know anything about me, I am a planner, VERY detail-oriented (especially in telling stories, I get that from my Mama lol), and have a strict routine and structure to almost everything I do. I THRIVE off of productivity!

At first, this COVID-19 situation was pretty unnerving when school began to cancel and all, but by the grace of God; He has given me a great peace to know that He previously has, and still has the whole world in His hands! Are you singing it in your head now too? Another thing about me is that I LOVE morning time and defiantly a morning person. Since school has been out, I wake up somewhere been 8-9:30 AM. I fill up on God’s Word, then I go for a beautiful walk around the school near my house and usually listen to some of my favorite podcasts if it is a pretty day. Something I have earnestly been praying about recently is to slow down when I read anything. Whether it be the Bible, a book, an article, or an online post. Since I am a check-list type person, I miss out on grasping and retaining a lot of what I read, because most of the time I read, I’m just looking forward to getting it done so I can start on something else. I despise being that way! However, in this time of isolation the Lord has worked in me to take more time out of my day to sit down and solely focus on Him.

A few days ago, I began reading John Piper’s book titled Don’t Waste Your Life. What better time to start a book like that now, right? This book was written 17 years ago in 2003. I say that because one section of the book I came across struck me the other night. Mr. Piper titled this paragraph in chapter three of this book, “Christ Bought Every Good Thing and Every Bad Thing That Turned for Good”. God seemed to highlight this for me as Mr. Piper explains, “One of the reasons we are not as Christ-centered and cross-saturated as we should be is that we have not realized that everything- everything good, and everything bad that God turns for the good of His redeemed children- was purchased by the death of Christ for us. We simply take life and breath and health and friends and everything for granted. We think it is ours by right. But the fact is that it is not ours by right. We are doubly undeserving of it” (Piper, 51). I verbally said “wow”. It is AMAZING how God works things together.

This point might be small, but it is SO on my heart right now. Mr. Piper had no idea that this girl would be sitting here reading a book that was published just around the time she was born, experiencing this global pandemic, and who had recently just started a blog! As you have probably heard around the internet or churches across the world, many have said that God is using this time where we have nothing to do, nothing to fill in the background noise we are so used to hearing, to expose the idols seated on their throne in our hearts. I agree with that 100% and that God is using this extremely uncomfortable time to open up our eyes and SEE that this time is a blessing! Hearts are returning. People are crying out. People have lost their jobs. Parents are struggling while becoming unexpected teachers to their children. People are absolutely desperate. “Heal Your land God, heal Your people!” This time is not a time to panic or ask, “where is God in all of this?” or “why would He allow this?” First of all, this world is NOT ours! As Mr. Piper said above, we do not obtain anything by our own right. (2 Corinthians 3:5) Second of all, Christ died for this exact moment in time. Satan thinks he can divide us brothers and sisters apart from each other and God’s church apart from Him and ALSO from Christ during this time with Easter coming up this Sunday and disrupt our thinking during this holy week. Think again Satan! Christ died for hearts to come and know him RIGHT now. There is such comfort resting in the promises of God, especially in Romans 8 where Apostle Paul proclaims in verse 35, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” … Verse 37, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Also, classic John 16:33, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” He proved it on the cross. It. Is. Finished.

I was reading Psalm 78 the other day (which I encourage you to read after this!) and it is titled “Tell the Coming Generation”. This Psalm tells of God’s compassion on rebellious Israel. It was a guide to Israel during that time to raise their children to be God-fearing and to not be like previous generations that were not faithful to God. Starting in verse 9 the psalmist tells of the forgetful generation. Verses 13-16 show God’s generosity and guidance as He led His people. Then in verse 17 and so on, the psalmist tells that yet, the people sinned even more against God. God who gave them everything they needed. The verse that stood out to me the most was verse 22, “… they did not believe in God and did not trust his saving power”. I immediately questioned, how could Israel, God’s chosen people, not believe in the Father who did unfathomable things for them like splitting a sea so they could walk through it safely! (v.13) Or the God who rained down manna on them so that they might eat in abundance? (v.24-25) Yet then I thought, we are doing the same in this current crisis. We feel as if there will not be a light at the end of this Coronavirus tunnel. The first thing our mind goes to is how will we get through this? We must remember that He graciously gives His children what they need in abundance. We simply forget where our help comes from, like Israel.

I mention all of this to say, to those who are in Christ, don’t waste this time. In the years to come, we will tell our children and grandchildren of this historical pandemic we lived through in 2020. What will you tell them that you gained from this time? Will you tell of how God was glorified through this time by His sheep being led back to Him, or that you were just praying that God would end this so that we could get back to our everyday lives? J.C Ryle once said, “Health is a good thing; but sickness is far better, if it leads us to God”. I feel that we are now seeing the beauty knowing God is working everything according to His sovereign will (Ephesians 1:11). When it seems as if we don’t hear Him, we are to rest in knowing He hears us. This world is not ours, and praise God it isn’t! Much love and praying for you in this time!

Romans 12:12 – “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”

An Unlikely Offer

Boy, school has not slowed down since it started in August! This week is one of those weeks where essays, tests, and quizzes just seem to overlap each other. Sunday night I asked the Lord to protect and watch over me as I stepped into the busyness of this week. Recently, I have felt a yearning to just sit down and be immersed in the Word and spend all the time I have on God. With the ways of this world and my sinful nature of course, time with Him almost seems impossible other than the usual half-hour I spend in my reading plan. I have been reading the book Unseen by Sara Hagerty and it has been so convicting! This woman managed to write a (pretty AWESOME) book with SIX children at home. Shame on me for complaining about the schoolwork I have to do! In her book, she talks about how we do not have to perform for God to see us. He sees us in every area and situation we are in, busy or with nothing to do. I just finished reading chapter seven titled “Secret Extravagance”. The main Scripture focus throughout the book is about Mary and Martha in the four gospels. 

Summarizing the story, Jesus has come to Bethany just before his death, burial, and resurrection. He enters the house of Simon, and a woman named Mary came and sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to all he had to say. She had very expensive oil that she had for a long time and pours it on his feet, wiping it with her hair. Seems odd right? But this point is so beautiful. She loved Jesus with everything she had and couldn’t care less who was watching her! The other people around her including her sister Martha knew who Jesus was and believed him, yet they judged Mary for wasting this expensive oil. Meanwhile, Martha is in the kitchen making a meal to serve Him and she asks Jesus why Mary has left her to serve alone. However, Jesus did not see it that way at all. He responds in Luke 10:42, “Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her”. That was all Jesus wanted. Mary to fall at his feet in adoration.

Back to the chapter in Unseen, this chapter focuses on the verse in Matthew 26:8 that says, “Why this waste?” from the disciples’ judgment. This was the best waste possible. Many times, we are caught in the frantic checklists and to-dos, that every second of our day is valuable and cannot be wasted. But it is in this “wasteful” time that we absorb and quite our hearts long enough for the Lord to speak into us what He is trying to say. When we look at it from that standpoint, no minute seems wasted on the Lord. I love the way Sara explains it on page 127 of her book, “When we cross over to heaven, we won’t discover a new, mysterious craving for God. It is here that we practice. We cultivate. We are made for this: to waste time simply being with Him. Sitting at His feet enjoying Him isn’t a foolish expenditure of time. It’s strength training for heaven” (Hagerty, 127). Yes!!! When we reach the Kingdom, that’s all that we will be doing and all that God created us to do, worship Him!

I believe the Lord has put this on my heart lately in the chaos of day-to-day tasks. My boyfriend and I have a joke that we say if we are flustered or stressed out, “have you read today?” Funny, but so true! I want to be used every way possible by the Lord, but if I am not sitting down before Him, seeking what He is trying to unveil, I will be unaware of what He is calling me to. It is beyond easy to be lacking in awe of the wondrous works of God.

Sunday night, my parents and I were at small group with our friends from church, that we have a few times a month. The couple that hosts our group are formally from Florida. They lived there in their early twenties and had a multitude of stories they shared that sent chills down your arms. God used them in extraordinary ways in the simplest places that seem unimaginable if I were to be in that situation. But if God wants something to happen, He WILL make it happen! Leaving there that night, my parents and I couldn’t get over how inspiring their boldness for Christ was in the lives of the people He used my small group leaders to impact. It just goes to show how forgetful we are that our God does miraculous things through the most unlikely people, anytime & anywhere.

I am thankful for this time right now as I should be starting on my English essay for college, but I felt the Lord tell me to write this. I am praying for you, and myself that we can slow down and pour whatever we have to offer at the precious feet of Jesus, as Mary of Bethany did.

Psalm 42:1-2

“As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God”.