Posted on

How a New Covenant Motivates Us

 

 

 

 

862870_10200935200288520_1481892161_n

 

Day 26: Ate

889196_10200937827434197_1583117459_o

Day 27: Happy

 

Happiness is a word that I feel is drastically misunderstood. 

Mostly because I feel that this world that we live in is a word that drastically misunderstands things because of what it offers which actually is not even close to what God’s massive love and grace offers. Today I wanted to blog about two pictures actually. The first is a picture from yesterday that represents the word, “Ate.”  and the picture below is from today that represents the word, “Happy.”

Both of which have a lot to do with one another.

“After taking the bread and giving thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in rememberance of me.” In the same way, he took the cup after the meal and said, “This cup is the new covenant by my blood, which is poured out for you.” 

The first picture was taken as Amy was serving me this new covenant outside of the Garden Tomb (one of the places that is believed where Jesus rose from the grave). Just thinking about it gives me chills and warms my heart. This new covenant is a very important part of our faith because it is redemption and the moment where God came down and rescued us from the slavery of sin and gave us the answer. Through this practice of remembrance we remembered what Christ has done and what he continues to do on our behalf. We remember that He came for us to rescue us so that we could come home.

This for me is what leads me in all I do.

I desire for it to be known fully and intimately by my students so that they can know Jesus like I know him. Everyday I get to share this faith with the students at St. Philip’s UMC makes me so incredibly happy but that is just one of the perks of being rescued by my Savior Jesus Christ. This motivates me because Jesus calls us back to who we were made to be, who we were originally designed to be. He calls us and says that we belong to him and He will do anything to fight for us, he will even die for us, and that’s pretty flippin sweet!

That’s something that motivates all of us!

Awesome God,

Motivate us to be your children and to live as you have taught us to live.

Amen

Posted on

Jesus Heals Us

But this was all a signpost. When Jesus came to town, it meant that healing, deliverance, joy, celebration, forgiveness, transformation, and rescue soon followed. This is the consistent testimony of the Gospels. Jesus healed, He forgave, He celebrated through feasting with people (usually the outcasts of society), He delivered, and He transformed lives— not by changing the outside of the cup, as the Pharisees did, but by curing hardened hearts and cleansing them from the inside. Jesus’ healings demonstrated that the arrival of God’s rule over evil was breaking into the present. For Jesus, healings and the casting out of demons were signs of the dawning kingdom. They indicated that God’s future had arrived. They were tangible signposts that the kingdom of God was coming to earth as it is in heaven. “But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” 49 By healing the sick and casting out demons, Jesus was effectively saying, “This is what happens when God is running the world. This is what it looks like when God is King of the earth. The time has come; the dominion of God is breaking into the present. This is what happens when God becomes King on earth as He is in heaven. (Sweet, Leonard; Viola, Frank (2012-10-02). Jesus: A Theography (p. 169). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.) 

 

 

Posted on

Day 23: No

888923_10200910695995928_1265098302_o

 

What have you to fear? God is with you. Let the words of David’s thoughts from Psalm 139 be a reminder of how true this song is and shall be for now until the end of the age.

Lord, you have examined me.
You know me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I stand up.
Even from far away, you comprehend my plans.
3 You study my traveling and resting.
You are thoroughly familiar with all my ways.
4 There isn’t a word on my tongue, Lord,
that you don’t already know completely.
5 You surround me—front and back.
You put your hand on me.
6 That kind of knowledge is too much for me;
it’s so high above me that I can’t fathom it.
7 Where could I go to get away from your spirit?
Where could I go to escape your presence?
8 If I went up to heaven, you would be there.
If I went down to the grave,[a] you would be there too!
9 If I could fly on the wings of dawn,
stopping to rest only on the far side of the ocean—
10 even there your hand would guide me;
even there your strong hand would hold me tight!
11 If I said, “The darkness will definitely hide me;
the light will become night around me,”
12 even then the darkness isn’t too dark for you!
Nighttime would shine bright as day,
because darkness is the same as light to you!

No amount of anything in this world will give you what you need. What you need comes from the Father. Only the love and grace of Jesus Christ can fill the needs of your desires of your heart and your very soul. It is quite comforting knowing that no matter what we go through in this life that God will never let go of us. NO! He wont! You are always in the palm of God’s hand.

Today Father in Heaven we pray that you hold us in your grace and wash us in your spirit and help us to know that you are always with us! Thank you Father for your faithful love and forgiveness in our lives. Help us to always praise you in all that we do.

Amen.

Posted on

Day 17: Prophet

406783_10200858943982160_459712260_n

(John the Baptist, from the Action Bible by Sergio Cariello)

Find the Action Bible by clicking here.

John the Baptizer, a prophet of the Lord. He is most commonly known for the many baptisms he did at the Jordan River, one of which was baptizing our Lord Jesus Christ, even though he protested saying:

I need to be baptized by you, yet you come to me? Jesus answered, “Allow me to be baptized now. This is necessary to fulfill all righteousness.”

So he baptized Jesus. John was also known to be the man that said “prepare the way for the Lord; make his paths straight.” To put it simply in all of John’s preaching I believe he was simply pointing towards what the Risen Christ would be and do for all time. John is one of my favorite prophets in the bible for this reason alone because I believe that most disciples do that the biggest accomplishment I can achieve in life is by effectively living my life in such a way that people are pointed to Christ.

To put it simply: “It’s not about us. It’s just not.”

I praise God everyday that it’s not about us, but about Him and everything that He has done for the world, and when we commit to live our lives for Him and his love and grace we actively commit to not point to ourselves and what we have done, but point directly to the Risen Christ for not just what He did, but for what He continues to do everyday that we are on this earth!

So I ask you to take a moment sometime today and think about what your life would be like if Christ had not died for you and me. What would our life look like? Take this moment to be thankful for all the blessings that God rains down upon us, but at the same time think about the many ways that we can point to Christ and why that matters to the world.

Father God,

Rain your love down upon us and help the world to see your Son through your disciples in the world. May they see you and your love and grace and not ourselves. In Jesus’ Name.

Amen.

Posted on

Day 15: Hear

295507_10200846929841814_1581601669_n

11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand at the mountain before the Lord. The Lord is passing by.” A very strong wind tore through the mountains and broke apart the stones before the Lord. But the Lord wasn’t in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake. But the Lord wasn’t in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake, there was a fire. But the Lord wasn’t in the fire. After the fire, there was a sound. Thin. Quiet. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his coat. He went out and stood at the cave’s entrance. A voice came to him and said, “Why are you here, Elijah?”

 

We live in a very loud world.

So sometimes I feel like that we expect that God’s voice should match the loudness of our world, but it doesn’t does it? There are two words that come to mind when I think of noise and God’s voice.

“Listen” and “Hear”

I think sometimes we think that we listen to God’s voice, but to really hear it can be a completely different thing. You can listen all day long, but to actually hear something is something that I believe is more. When something is heard there is this implication that it has been received (whether good or bad) it has been received nonetheless.

In this verse from 1 Kings we find the prophet Elijah that heard God’s voice and responded. “God said to Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful noise comes and elijah thinks its God, but its not. Then another loud noise comes, not God. Then another and its still not God.

And then after the fire there was a sound, but it thin and it was quiet

And Elijah heard it. 

What he hears is God asking a question: Why are you here, Elijah?

What is God asking you tonight? 

Are you listening?

Did you hear it?

I believe that God is always telling us something, the question is whether we truly heard what he was saying.

God I pray that we would truly hear you for what you are truly saying. Open our ears, hearts, minds, and very souls to you God so that we can hear you and go and represent in as your disciples. In Jesus’ Name we pray.

Amen.