Thursday, April 10, 2014

Peace, be still.......

I am so thankful for all of the promises God has in His word. promises that you can stand on. really really stand on. 

Ps. 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. and because He is our refuge, strength, a very present help in trouble we can "be still and know that He is God." Ps. 46:10
"Who is mighty like You, O LORD, Your faithfulness also surrounds You. You rule the raging of the sea; When its waves rise, You still them." Psalm 89:8-9

In Ps. 23 His word tell us that He prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies. Not in the absence of our enemies. in Ps 46:1 it's in trouble that He is our very present help. A help in the here and now. in the middle of the storm.

In Mark 4:35-41, Matt. 8:23-27 and Luke 8:22-25 Jesus taught us how to sleep in the middle of the storm. not to sleep in the absence of storms but right in the middle. He first told His disciples that they were going to the other side. Now remember this is God, the one who controls everything so if He says they were going to the other side they were going to the other side and no storm would stop them. as they launched out Jesus feel asleep. a huge storm came up to the point His disciple were so afraid they were going to perish. People, we will have storms in our lives where we feel like we are going to perish and we will even have the same questions that His disciples had -
"Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?" Mark 4:38.
But don't just call Jesus teacher.
Know who He is!!! He is the "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." John 1:29 Jesus, because He is God, calmed the waves by saying, "Peace, be still!" The storm was gone. but He said to His disciples, "Why are you so fearful?" Mark 4:40. Jesus doesn't want us to be afraid in the storms of life. He wants us to know that He is in control of them all no matter how long they last or how they end. He wants our whole trust to be put in Him so that He can lead us around, through or completely quiet the storm.
It's in His word that will bring peace to our hearts in middle of the storms.

And when we have fulfilled the number of our days, (I Chron 17:13) He has promises for that as well!!! In your storm may you hear the Master of the storm speak to your heart today, "Peace, be still" and may you be able to rest assured knowing that He is fully in control and if you will submit yourself under His mighty hand (I Peter 5:6) He will direct your steps. (Prov. 3:5-6)



Friday, February 14, 2014

  • Being Valentine's Day I had to post this.  I read this years ago.  The author is unknown.  I have always loved this.  May it sink deep into your soul and spirit today and bring refreshment to you as you reflect on 
  • Who loves you the greatest
  •  His greatest act
  •  His greatest gift 
  • to you, dear one.......

  • John 3:16
  • God”...The greatest Lover
  • “So loved”...The greatest degree
  • “The world”...The greatest number
  • “That He gave”..The greatest act
  • “His only begotten Son”.The greatest gift
  • “That whoever”..The greatest invitation
  • “Believes”...The greatest simplicity
  • “In Him”...The greatest Person
  • “Should not perish”..The greatest deliverance
  • “But”....The greatest difference
  • “Have”....The greatest certainty
  • “Everlasting Life”..The greatest possession

Sunday, February 2, 2014

A Forever, Perfect, Unchangeable Covenant

Life is not about me..................
Life is not about you.................

It's not your story, it's not my story.  It's His Story.

It's about God the Father and His covenant with His Son Jesus Christ who is God Himself.

All covenants between God of all creation and man have been broken.  Not because of God - He is perfect and has always upheld His end of the agreement.  It's because of man - we are not perfect and we will always mess up and be covenant breakers. We have all sinned and have missed the mark.  Rom 3:23

The first covenant which came through the law was nothing more than to show us
    our sin......
    our brokenness......
    our need for redemption.......
    our need for a Savior..........
because through the law we were not made righteous.  We were/are only found guilty, condemned.

The covenant between God the Father and God the Son is a blood covenant.  Blood was shed to seal it.
Jesus lives forever and it's a forever, unchangeable covenant.

We need a revelation that we are only grafted into this covenant by faith ~ belief in what Jesus Christ did on the cross because of an agreement between Him and His Father to redeem humans.

So the first covenant through the law is our teacher, our tutor to show us that we are law-breakers.  We are judged guilty and the sentence is death.

OH, BUT, praise God that He did not leave us there.  He didn't leave us to be condemned, to be judged guilty, to be put to death.

What man could not do, God did through His Son.

Jesus, completely perfect, eternal and God Himself, shed His blood, entered the Holiest (Heb 10:19-23) once and for all ~  that's why the veil was torn from top to bottom.  Luke 23:45, Matt 27:51 ~ there is no more separation between God and man - the symbol of separation - the veil - was ripped in half making way for man to be with God.    By faith, we are justified, forgiven, set free from sin and the judgement of sin which is death.

We entered into the covenant by faith.    It's not a covenant between us and God anymore.  It's between God the Father and God the Son.

Are we getting it?  It has nothing to do with us - it never has, never will.

It's NOT about
    our works...........
    what we do.............
    what we don't do..............
  
It's NOT how nice we are, or how good we are, or how hard we try - none of that will ever measure up.  We have all sinned.  We all continue to turn our faces from the LORD God.  We can't do it, nor will we ever be able to live up to our end of the covenant.

That's why we are grafted in by faith in what Jesus has done into this covenant between God and His Son.  Jesus Lives and is making intercession for you, for me and is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Jesus.  Heb 7:25

It's through the covenant between God the Father and God the Son.

It's NOT a covenant with us and praise God for that because we would do what we do best - break the covenant - fall short once again.

Do you see?  The covenant is between God the Father and God the Son - PERIOD.
We don't add to it, we aren't even in the equation.  There is no algebra equation here, no a, b or c.
It's only God + Jesus = Salvation = Redemption

We are grafted in by God through our belief and faith in what Jesus did on the cross and that is all by faith.

I am so overcome and overwhelmed by the torn veil.