Are you avoiding another path because it doesn't sound easy?
We run around like hamsters on a wheel going and going, but where?
Is what we are doing really making us better and stronger people?
Is it something that will last?
God has something everlasting that will give you s strength and peace.
It may require you to go a different direction.
It may require you to slow down, be quiet and listen.
I know that's inconvenient at times, but in the end it is what's best.
We are in quarantine now. No more excuses. Sit. Be Still. Listen.
What do you hear? Your own conscious?
Say His name, yes... that name... "Jesus".
The world seems to cringe at the sound of it.
Just try saying it. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
Be still, listen, hear, trust... and obey. Yes, obey.
This is where you may squirm away.
If you want to squirm, read the story of Jonah.
He squirmed. He loved God.
He was willing to DIE for Him. He offered over and over to die for Him.
But when asked to LIVE for God, He squirmed. He ran and tried to hide.
God loved Noah enough to grab him and sweep him away to solitude so that he had no choice but to listen. Has that happened to you? Maybe God is trying to sweep you away to talk to you.
Quit squirming like a toddler worm and listen. Be still. Your life depends on it.
Your life can have purpose. You can have a great commission.
You can have everlasting treasures beyond the reach of rust, moths and thieves (Matthew 6:19-20).
John 3:16 is a class Todd and I have been blessed to begin starting this Spring!
We are starting the lesson with the study of John 3 because the context of the verse 3:16 gets overlooked most often. The number 316 has come to represent God's love for me and Todd over the years. It seems that every time we have been in need of knowing God's got our backs, he uses this number to show us.
For example, when I was a single widow mother, Todd and I were just dating. I had gone to Houston to visit him and my family. On the way traveling back North from there, my 2 sleeping daughters and I got caught in a night snowstorm! I had never experienced anything like it before and was scared out of my skin. I stopped to cry and decided to keep driving until I reached a hotel. I pulled my sleepyheads out from the back seat and was so scared to be doing this alone. I prayed God would be our Father and help us. As we went to get a room from the clerk, she said we had room 315. We started away in the lobby to go to the room and she said, "No, wait, I'm sorry maam, it's room THREE SIXTEEN! If it wasn't for her mistake I might not have noticed what God was trying to show me.
After Todd and I got married we lived in Houston, Texas for 4 years. We were hungry for the small town life and eventually moved back to where the girls and I came from, Mineola, Texas.
WE were promised a job transfer for Todd with his home building company and I had a new teaching job. With his job we were going to be able to build a home on a lake here in town. We were so excited to finally be settled and living a dream. All was set! So we thought...
The day we packed up the first of five moving trucks, Todd was let go of his job. This was devastatingly unexpected and with the news came the loss of the dream home on the lake. We settled into a rent house with fear of dreaming again. But, God had a plan even better for us. As we looked around for a house to have as our own here in town, a certain home I loved for 15 years was looking like there was moving activity. I was so excited!! But it was not on the market. So, We asked the realtor we were using to see if we could go look and he got us in before it was officially on the market. It was beautiful and perfect and... the address was 316!
So, we are renovating this home until it is ready. It needed to "be born again" in a way and re purposed. Kind of like the sock in my Lost Sock book, it needed to salvaged to become a new creature. Feel free to read and watch it here. Just Click.
SO, Todd and I have been asked to lead a group at church for young adults and growing families...
Our schedule will not allow us to start until 3 more weeks... Let see...
what will that weekend be... ?
(looking at my calendar)
THREE SIXTEEN!
That's right! The weekend of March 16th, 2019.
So, God has got our backs with all of this. If He is for us, who can be against us?
So I finally decided to look before and after the 16th verse into the context of what's around it. I discovered so many things. I want to share them with you and it will be the lesson for our first meeting of the John 316 Sunday School class!
John 3 is a chapter that is all about being born again.
We start out on earth as a shell of sin, a lost sock if you will. Everything we do is of the flesh. We work to be better, we strive to gain intelligence, we hope we are doing good enough, we gather our achievements only to find out that we still feel empty and without purpose. Nicodemus was one of these sorts of men. He was a teacher for the teachers, an expert, the richest, the highest, the smartest and the best of all those men around. He worked hard to get himself where he was. He was not about to share with the poor or discuss his findings with the cursed and lowly people. But there came a man greater than he, a teacher more wiser.
He went to him in the night in search of truth, but he got more than he could digest in that one night.
He learned that in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, he must start over. He must destroy the idea that any work of his own flesh could get him in. There is nothing we do to get to heaven, just like there it nothing we did to get here on earth. There is nothing we can hold in our hands that we can take with us. The praise we get here will not matter there. Nicodemus had worked so hard in vain and did not immediately like this idea. He leaned that our entrance into the Kingdom, It is completely the Grace of God.
We must get rid of the idea of self righteousness and take on a new heart.
We must be born again in the Spirit and become a new creature. He was not immediately ready to throw away what he had built here. But the idea lingered in his mind for years.
Although this idea was hard to digest, as soon as it did, Nicodemus was a NEW MAN with a new purpose. Read John 3
1Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. Pharisees were Whitewashed, religious, isolated, cursed others, hoarded their riches, secluded, judgmental and zealous. for law, show offs, self righteous. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
Nicodemus came at night because he did not want to be seen by Pharisees. Pharisees were a group that studied the old testament, were legalistic, smart, literal, concrete, prideful, self righteous, “working” their way to Heaven and hypocritically getting lost in the process.
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
Jesus is notanswering Nic’s question. Jesus knows what he really wanted and can read his mind. Jesus knows that NIc is afraid that he is not in the Kingdom. He is secretly fearful that he is wasting his life. He has come to the highest peak of knowledge and does not have peace still. Jeremiah 17:10, Psalm 94:11.
4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” Sarcasm . That’s right. IT is NOT humanly possible. But it is spiritually possible. There is no “how to” be born again. There is no steps to follow on our own. You did not decide or work to be born. It is not what we do, it’s what God does. We cannot follow rules and step and methodical rituals in order to be Born Again. Pharisees could not understand that because it went against what they were taught. Flesh efforts are totally forfeit. IT’s not legalistic. It’s Grace. This thought of God’s grace voids all the work they have done. They do not like that. Isaiah 64:6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Nicodemus knew all old testament scripture. Ezekiel 36:25 I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all our filthiness and from all your idols, moreover i will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. (old testament). 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’
Flesh births flesh. Flesh will die and is not everlasting. Cleansing and born into Spirit is eternal and not of man’s own working. Man cannot enter the Kingdom by “doing things” to get in. Pharisees are trained to methodically and ritualistically do things in order to work their ways into Heaven. This is all of self and flesh, not of the SPirit. Our flesh has to die so that the Spirit can replace it. First life ends when new begins. 2 Corinthians 5:17 You become a new creature. Spirit will never dies, it is eternal life. If we live forever in the flesh and prideful will of self, we will die.
We must dies to flesh Galatians 2:20 Galatians 5:24
Spirit gives life to flesh. Flesh is useless John 6:63 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from orwhere it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
Wind/Spirit has a will of its own. When we are born again, this wind is in us, replacing our will. Spirit replaces flesh. Our will submits to the will of the wind/spirit. Our spirit is awakened. Wind has mysterious peace and power. The wind has it’s own will and does not follow the rules of humans. But Jesus could command the wind to stop! Luke 8:22-24.
What can you do to control the wind? You cannot see it, make it stronger, weaker, change or stop. It is completely and totally the work of God. IT is unpredictable, uncontrollable and powerful. IRRESISTIBLE GRACE (John 5:21, “They son gives life to whoever He will”,.
9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? He was the one all the Pharisees went to to learn about the Bible. He was rich, but riches were considered to make him blessed by God. So, he thought to be high and mighty. But he knew he was a fake and all that he knew was wrong. That is why he went to a teacher greater than him.
11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.
12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? Nic is book smart, but spirit stupid. In Matthew 11:25, Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.” He was law oriented, but shallow minded. He wanted to know more, but will not open his heart in order to open his mind. You must become like a child to understand. Nic is strong minded, proud and self righteous but little in faith. He must humble himself before the Lord. Jesus was speaking only truth, but Nic still didn't believe.
13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.
14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” Past (Numbers 21:6-9) of Israelite is brought into present. They complained miserable about food, water and life conditions after they had been delivered from captivity. They were on the road to the promised land. God brought snakes to bite them and some dies. They prayed and repented. GOd had Moses create a bronze snake for the Israelite to look at if bitten again. If they looked, they were healed. *We are poisoned to die here in this desert, but Christ's Crucifixion is our healing grace. He was lifted on the cross so we can live.
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. Believe to receive life. Be immune to the poisonous bite, Passover judgement, live eternally, bu free from condemnations, simple be believing in god’s loving gift!
19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Pharisees hide from Jesus because He exposes their flesh. They run like rats and roaches from the light. John 4; 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.
21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
Two years after this, Jews and to kill Jesus in Galilee. Nicodemus is sent out by the Sanhedrin to get Jesus and kill him. He is preaching in the temple. Nic winds up coming back empty handed and tells them that Jesus’s words, They could not lay their hands on him, it was not his time. Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks, he paralyzed them with His words. The Sanhedrin was mad and made fun of Nic sarcastically. Vs. 60, he said “our law does not judge a man unless he has due process and has been heard in court” He defended Jesus and protected him. Ch 19. 2 more years later. Jesus is dead. Nic gathers 75 pounds of aloe and myrrh to help with the body. He has identified himself with Jesus and now loves him. He binds the body with linens wrapped in the mixture with Joseph. (Progressive sanctification, regeneration). He lost everything and was banished by Jerusalem. No longer a teacher. He lost everything in their world to gain what is after. Become a Living Sacrifice Romans 12:1-2 Nic became a living sacrifice, by the renewing of his mind.
1Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
2Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Take Up Your Cross and Follow Jesus
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
Where can you connect these symbols in the story?
(windmill, hot air balloon, lighthouse, serpent on stick, present vs. trophy, moth, roach, rat)
"Let Us Not Grow Weary of doing what's GOOD, for in due season we will Reap A Harvest." This verse keeps popping up in front of me this last couple weeks. I think God is trying to tell me something. Too often we "do good" hoping to get praise from humans. Too often nobody notices and we get all bent up. Do you clean house hoping the kids will notice? Have fun with that! Do you work hard at your job hoping your boss with throw you a bone? May never happen. As a teacher, the ki...ds at school that do good just becuase they see me holding stickers behind my back get on my nerves! Am I that kid? Just hoping for a pat on the back? In reality, we ( or "I" really) should be happy to do good when NOBODY sees us. For it is these "good things" that He sees. These good deeds that do not gain us earthly praise that He holds onto and gives us blessing either here or in eternity. They are the riches. Character is what you are in the dark, right? So, do good always. No matter if you are noticed by anyone. Know that He notices is proud of you, His child. If we hunger fro human appreciation for every good deed we do, we will starve. Look to Him above who sees it all. He loves you.
Lord, have mercy on me; all day long the enemy troops press in.
So many are proud to fight against me; how they long to conquer me.
3-4 But when I am afraid, I will put my confidence in you.
Yes, I will trust the promises of God. And since I am trusting him,
what can mere man do to me? 5 They are always twisting what I say.
All their thoughts are how to harm me.
6 They meet together to perfect their plans;
they hide beside the trail, listening for my steps, waiting to kill me.
7 They expect to get away with it. Don’t let them, Lord. In anger cast them to the ground.
8 You have seen me tossing and turning through the night.
You have collected all my tears and preserved them in your bottle!
You have recorded every one in your book.
9 The very day I call for help, the tide of battle turns.
My enemies flee! This one thing I know: God is for me!
10-11 I am trusting God—oh, praise his promises!
I am not afraid of anything mere man can do to me! Yes, praise his promises.
12 I will surely do what I have promised, Lord, and thank you for your help.
13 For you have saved me from death and my feet from slipping,
so that I can walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
1 Peter 3:3-4
New International Version (NIV)
Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes.Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.
I love this quote from Kid President.
It is similar to others I have heard.
"Nobody cares about how much you know,
until the know how much you care."
and
"It's nice to be important,
It's more important to be nice."
It all reminds me of what The Bible taught us...
Philippians 2:3-5
Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
Let each of you look not only to his own interests,
My most common spiritual weakness is my pessimistic thoughts. My mind complains, gripes, insults myself and others in my weakest moments. I have found that there are ways to "flip the switch" in my head. One is turning on my Spiritual Music, another is counting my blessings, and finding a way to give praise for what I am complaining for. God wants us to think of GOOD things.
This is harder and goes against the human grain. Every action we make was once a thought,
so before you speak it or do it,
Think it through.
T- is it TRUE
H- is it HELPFUL
I- Is it INSPIRING
N- Is it NECASSARY
K- Is it KIND?
Philippians 4:6-8
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--
if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.
do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Over this 4 years, I have learned a lot about God's will for me and His will for His people.
Faith is a spiritual muscle that only grows stronger with the weight being added. When circumstances in our lives change, we can decide to grow closer to Christ or turn away. If we turn away, our faith weakens. If we turn to Him, thanking Him and praising Him through the storm, the act of believing in what we cannot see grows stronger. Our grip on His hand gets tighter. Our dependence on Him gets deeper. Our eyes of faith, the ability to see the unseen, grows stronger. Our spiritual senses get sharper.
As Christ takes us along our adventure of faith, we grow more mature in Him. As we grow stronger, we can handle more weight and responsibility in the Kingdom. Our vision grows grander, beyond ourselves and into a bigger family of faith. We are pushed to take our personal relationship and testimony and share it to grow the Kingdom, the Church, the Bride of Christ.
I am finding out in my journey, that God WILL give us more that we can handle. Look at the assignment he gave to Moses! And Jonah! Neither of these men felt capable to do the will God had set before them. But it's through our weakness He shows His strength. It's through our lack of knowledge He shows His infinite wisdoms. It is a false promise (not in the Bible) that "God will never give you more than you can handle." In fact, I believe that is the whole point of Christ's existence is for Him to carry our burdens to the cross so that we don't carry them To the grave. When we carry more weight than we can handle, we realize how weak we are beneath it. We realize our need for something stronger than ourselves! That is FAITH!
THE REAL PROMISE IS...
He gives Rest for the Weary
Matthew 11:28-30
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” He wants you to come to Him, surrender control of what's weighing you down and to give you peace in exchange.
After the death of my best friend and husband, Shannon Seaton, over three years ago, I have realized the truth of what is around us. There is more around than what we "see" with our eyes. We believers here on earth are being cheered on in this race of life by the witnesses in the Heavens. I believe they look at us and are entertained by our praise and worship in the midst of our struggles to finish. I believe they want us to be aware of their joy when we grow the Father's Kingdom here on Earth. They applaud souls coming to Christ.
" Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."
Hebrews 12
Whatever it is that we are doing to grow the Kingdom (teaching, preaching, serving, creating), keep doing it! Do not grow weary or weak. Keep running the race towards the finish line, the cross. Don't let your circumstances or disappointments slow you down or weaken your faith. It is the greatest sacrifice to Praise God when it's hard to see His hand. Push through.
Isaiah 40:30-31
30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Image Created by Tabitha Morgan for a friend of faith growing the Kingdom
There have been times where I felt like I was living my life doing the best I could to do what I thought God's will was for my life. I pray before my every step in life for fear of falling. I need Him to show me the way. I'm lost without His light on my path. So, why does the path we run sometime lead to unfairness? I struggled with this. I know God is on my side... (Romans 8:31), so why was I feeling so let down? Where did I go wrong?
I came to God in my quiet time with this question...
He gave me a vision of the cross. His Son Jesus followed Him without fail. He always gave up His desires for those of His Father's... but it lead him where? The cross. Is that fair? No.
Peter and John, faithful disciples that followed Christ landed in prison for healing in HIs name...
is that fair? No.
Job lost almost everything he had been blessed with after being obedient to God... not fair.
But God showed me His plan... That the path does not end where the earthly eye can see. The plan is to strengthen & perfect the runner along the way... to make me and the faithful ones as much like Christ as possible. That means following Him to places that lead to unfair circumstances. These are our crosses to bear.
"And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple."
Luke 14:27
Jesus told us, "In the world you will have trouble..But take heart! I have overcome the world"
John 16:33
He told us to expect unfairness.
(Matthew 5:11-12, 44; 10:23, 13:21; Mark 10:30; John 15:20).
He told us that the world would hate us (John 15:18-19).
After God shared this knowledge with me, I had to let it soak into my soul. IN time he showed me this verse to help it make sense...
(His emphasis to me was on verse 13)
Ephesians 4:11-16
"So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. "
God was telling me that in order to move forward in my walk of faith, I must grow up. He has grown my for a greater purpose, to lead others to the Grand Finish. It's not all about me and my life walk being fair! It's about my life walk reflecting His. It's about my life walk being used to lead others to
The Cross. To show them the place where they can lay it all down at His feet. I either had to grow stronger for the walk or go Another path. God has a way of putting us in our place of humbleness with His loving words of truth.
Satan has a way of leading us to a life of pride with pretty lies too...
Here is where I had a flashback of my infant faith...
Flashback of my life in 2008
This wasn't the first time God had brought the subject of "infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind" to me. I had heard it years before when doubting the faith I was raised. I was just about to attend a conference with my Christian friend Micah. It was an event that would totally alter my future faith...See here if interested in reading my non-current testimony in the autobiographical comic, SuperTab
After letting all of this soak into my spirit... I came out with the first drawing you see above.
It is of the church at Jesus's feet. The notes of praise, worship and thanksgiving are opening the Heavens for God to take pleasure in the aroma of sweet sacrifice.
What I have learned is that Worship is an act of humbling ourselves before Christ and submitting to His will. The true place of humility is as a servant at their Master's feet. Jesus showed us this at the Last Supper.
He said, “Do you understand what I have done for you?” He asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord.’ You are right. That is what I am. I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet. So you also should wash one another’s feet. I have given you an example. You should do as I have done for you. John 13
Also, when the sinful woman came to see Jesus, she went to his feet sacrificing tears of shame, her finest perfume and wiped his feet with her hair. Luke 7:36-50
Mary, the sister of Martha was also found listening intently at the feet of Jesus. Jesus told Martha in her business and worry, that Mary was at the better place. Luke 10:38-42
This is the place to let go of what we think we deserve and give the Savior what he deserves. Once we let go of ourselves, our flesh, we find our Spirit... this is where we can find Him in true worship
John 4:24. "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."
The church should be at His feet in true worship. From the church should come Praises and Thanksgiving. These are like sweet fragrances of sacrifice to the Lord. The Heaven's open up pleased by the sounds of the Church praising the King. Heaven and Earth are joined in one accord as Christ had taught. "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven!" Let the Heavens and all the angels, the witnesses in the clouds (Hebrew 12:1), open up when we Praise the King on earth as it is done in Heaven.
Psalms 100:4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful to him, and bless his name.
Hebrews 13:15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
I hope these images, words and scriptures have blessed you in your present faith. May God bless you for reading the truth. May you hear the Heaven's singing "Christ" this Christmas beyond all the noise of this world drowning it out.
