Eyes Fixed

When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. Matthew 17:8 Who do you see when you look up? I am sitting here at my oldest son's basketball training (which happens to be a lot of my life, next to Jesus). And heard the trainer say this "if you dribble down the court with your eyes to the ground then by the time you look up, you have a defender on each side, and end up panicking and throw the ball at the basket without having a good shot." I instantly got this picture of our walk with the Lord. If we walk with our eyes to the ground or on other things than Jesus then by the time we look up and see Jesus ahead of us, we have been side swiped by something the world or satan has thrown at us, panic and and do something that we are not prepared for. We need to look up, see Jesus and Jesus only! So are you eyes fixed on Jesus or are they fixed on something else?

The Real Jesus

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 1 John 3:2 Can we say that seeing Jesus the way we see Him in our lives rather than as He is, forms our ability to get real with Jesus? We go to a church and feel that Jesus is standing at the door looking at the way we are dressed, whether we did everything right this week, whether we smell like cigarettes. The church down the street doesn't even have Jesus in their service. The church further down the street has Jesus dressed in the latest fashion checking to make sure you are old enough to be there but young enough to fit in, looking at you with narrowed eyes to see if you are free enough in Christ to put back a couple of drinks and have enough symbols on our body that show Him off. We see Him big enough and loving enough to get us a parking spot when the lot is full but not big enough and loving enough to heal a cousin of cancer. We see Him as the one who loves us enough that He will forgive our sin of sleeping with our boyfriend but then He in a passive/aggressive sort of way will punish us for not having devotionals 6 days a week by giving us a sickness or making us have a blowout with our boss or giving us a flat tire. We see Jesus in such a variety of ways, ranging from one extreme to another. David Guzik said "To the extent that you see Jesus as He is, to that extent, you are like Him in your life." We need to see Jesus as He is - taking into totality what the Word of God tells us Jesus does and who the Word of God tells us Jesus is. That is what we will know this side of Heaven, the rest will be revealed when we see Him face to face. But that's not for us to worry about, what we need to concentrate on is Being Real with Jesus now! In what area of your life do you need to get Real With Jesus today?

Servant of All

And He sat down called the twelve, and said to them "If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all" Mark 9:35 Jesus sat down! This action everyone understood, He was a Rabbi and He was going to teach. When a Rabbi was going to give out something important, he sat down to teach. The question that had been posed, the statement that they needed and desired clarification on was "who would be the greatest?" How does Jesus answer this question? Not by turning the attention on Him and saying "You're looking at the greatest" even though HE IS THE GREATEST of all!! But rather, He turned their attention (and ours) to the last and to the servant. Of course, this is Jesus isn't it? He is the first yet He made himself last and He served all, He served everyone and He set the example for us. If the Son of God, the Most High, the Lord of All can make Himself last and set Himself as a servant then how could we NOT want to do this. This is our example. Guzik said "The desire to be praised and gain recognition should be foreign to a follower of Jesus". The idea here is that we would welcome the opportunity for the Lord to work in our lives through being a servant and not that it would be forced but that it would be something that springs up from our heart, something that we allow, embrace and work into who we are as believers and followers of Jesus. We need to be followers of Jesus that look more to how can we serve others than how are others going to serve us. What kind of servant will you be today? One that desires to be served or one that desires to servant others?

His Cross/Our Cross

In John 19:17 it says that Jesus went out bearing His own cross - thankful today that the Lord has us bear the cross that He has placed in our lives, and coupled with Matthew 11:28-30 we don't have to do it alone like He did - He promises to be with us and carry our cross with us!

By Faith

Reading in Hebrews 11:27-29 today and was blessed - Moses was able to not fear leaving Eqypt, was able to keep the Passover and was able to pass through the Red Sea - BY FAITH! BY FAITH we have the same ability - BY FAITH we are able to not fear, BY FAITH we are able to keep what the Lord has said to us and BY FAITH we are able to pass through our trials! Great encouragement for me today! Do you need to be reminded that BY FAITH in the Lord we have so much available to us?

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

And He charged us to preach to the people and to bear solemn testimony that He is the God-appointed and God-ordained Judge of the living and the dead. To Him all the prophets testify that everyone who believes in Him (who adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Him, giving himself up to Him) receives forgiveness of sins through His name. Acts 10:42-43

Receive this today! Through the name of Jesus comes life, we are forgiven of our sins and given eternal life with Him in heaven. Have you accepted that Jesus is YOUR savior? He died for YOU - your name was written on His heart as He suffered and died!

If you have not accepted Jesus - do it now! Call out the name of Jesus, tell Him you are a sinner and that you accept His forgiveness and want Him to rule in your heart and life from now on!

If you have accepted Jesus - what are you doing for Him today?

Thursday, March 23, 2006

See to it, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. (Hebrews 3:12)

The statement "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts" is mentioned 3 times in Chapters 3 & 4 of Hebrews. His Word tells us that "nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account". Are you ready to give that account? Have you heard His voice and hardened your heart? God desires to forgive our sins (that's why Jesus died on the cross for you) and that our hearts would be soft toward Him. Hebrews 4:16 says we can "approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."

Jesus is sitting at the right hand of His Father waiting to call your name out as one of His, and all the heavens will rejoice.

Have you been a christian a long time, or maybe even your entire life? Have you lost that fervent passion for Jesus? In Hebrews it calls us to "encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly til the end the confidence we had at first" That same confidence you had when you received Jesus into your life, is the same confidence you can walk through each day of your life with.

The Lord desires us to seek Him passionately (with every fiber of our being), pray to Him fervently (with every expectation to see Him work) and embed His Word into our hearts, minds and souls, so that we may be immovable, unshakable, endurable, and steadfast in our love for Him.

How are you walking through life - with a hardened heart or a confidence in Jesus Christ?