Sunday, September 27, 2009
Birth of Jesus - Luke 1&2
During the time when Jesus was born, many people had no idea that their Messiah was to be born during their generation. Only those who meditated on the scripture and eagerly anticipated the coming of their Savior were aware in the time they were living. This will also be the case at the second coming of Jesus. Many people will not be expecting Jesus when He does come, partly because the seemingly long delay. The ones who will be prepared will be the ones who like at His first coming meditate on the scripture and long for His return. By immersing ourselves in scripture and communing with the Holy Spirit we will be the ones like Simeon and Anna who knew that the coming of the Messiah would be in their generation.
What we must do then to be found waiting for Jesus upon His second coming is live like the few who knew His first coming. We must live just and devout, allowing the Holy Spirit to move upon us. (Luke 2:25) We must have the faith that Simeon had in knowing that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. (Luke 2:26) Though this type of lifestyle may be consuming of our lives, and cause us to never feel fully satisfied, there is reward that makes it beyond worth it. I can’t even imagine the joy that Simeon felt in holding and blessing the baby Jesus. That moment made every longing and groaning worth it. The complete barrenness we feel in life makes so much more sense once we see Jesus with our eyes.
Anna is such a beautiful example of how we ought to be living our lives. The devotion to Jesus she maintained through her life is stunning; especially considering her loss early on in life, the husband of her youth. We should be living lives of prayer and fasting, thanking the Lord for everything. We should be staying in the temple day and night crying out in desperation for the Lord. She knew before the cross the story of redemption, and spoke of Him to the people who would hear. (Luke 2:36-38) We should be speaking to people of the redemptive work of Christ to all people we encounter. We need to humble ourselves to such a place to recognize our barrenness and cry out to the Lord, because our only hope for this earth is His return, where He will rule in perfect leadership.
Oh the joy that must have come to those who anticipated their Christ, “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11) They must have been thrilled to know that God was going to be with them in the flesh.
There were a few people who knew that Jesus was the Savior they were waiting on, but many religious Jews didn’t. Many people in the days of the birth of Jesus were living controlled by religious spirits, which blinded them to the Messiah in which they were waiting on. To think that someone would search their whole lives for their Savior, and then miss Him at His return is absurd. But the reality is that they were so driven by religion that they forgot it was about a Man, and made it about the law. The law became an idol to them and it destroyed their destiny in Christ. This must have pained Jesus’ heart in a way that we cannot even comprehend.
The humility and lowliness of Christ starts at His birth, lying in a manger, not in a palace being praised by kings. Jesus was pleased to be humble, having no recognition was a delight to Him. There was no room for Jesus in the inn so He had to lower Himself to the place where animals lived and ate. Much like in the world there was no room for Him so He dwelt with the sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes; the unworthy according to this world. Jesus was not seeking the approval of man. His whole life resembles the perfect picture of humility. God is vast, a shore less ocean waiting to be discovered; and the person of Jesus is equally as vast, He resembles the Father in every way, they are in unison. To think that the God of the universe could be expressed in the form of a humble man is beyond what our minds can grasp. Mary carried the fullness of God in her womb! Even at His birth, light and joy were revealed. Heaven was full of joy and worshipped God on the day of His birth.
Mary must have been awestruck when the angel Gabriel came to her saying that she was favored by God and that she would bear the Son of the Highest named Jesus. I wonder what was going through her mind when the angel told her that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and then she would bear a Son. The power of the person of Christ was present at the beginning of time, but we see glimpses of His nature even when He was in the womb. I just love that God included in the bible the part where John the Baptist leaps for joy in Elizabeth’s womb, and she was filled with the Holy Spirit. (Luke 1:41) The power we see here of Jesus bringing that kind of joy is a beautiful illustration of what was to come. The kingdom of God has always been about the beauty within. Mary found favor with God not because of looks or fame, but because of the beauty she carried within of a humble heart. (Luke 1:48) The song of Mary reveals the understanding she was given about the One she would soon birth. She had great revelation about the fear of the Lord; His mercy, humility, justice, compassion, goodness and blessing. (Luke 1:46-55) Because of her divine understanding she magnified the Lord with her soul. Mary had more faith than Zacharias did when the angel of the Lord appeared to her to tell her of the Son she would bear. Mary was blessed because of her faith.
Jesus brought much joy and light upon His earthly arrival. The joy and light that He brought was directly from heaven, from a place of truth, love, humility and faith.
What we must do then to be found waiting for Jesus upon His second coming is live like the few who knew His first coming. We must live just and devout, allowing the Holy Spirit to move upon us. (Luke 2:25) We must have the faith that Simeon had in knowing that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. (Luke 2:26) Though this type of lifestyle may be consuming of our lives, and cause us to never feel fully satisfied, there is reward that makes it beyond worth it. I can’t even imagine the joy that Simeon felt in holding and blessing the baby Jesus. That moment made every longing and groaning worth it. The complete barrenness we feel in life makes so much more sense once we see Jesus with our eyes.
Anna is such a beautiful example of how we ought to be living our lives. The devotion to Jesus she maintained through her life is stunning; especially considering her loss early on in life, the husband of her youth. We should be living lives of prayer and fasting, thanking the Lord for everything. We should be staying in the temple day and night crying out in desperation for the Lord. She knew before the cross the story of redemption, and spoke of Him to the people who would hear. (Luke 2:36-38) We should be speaking to people of the redemptive work of Christ to all people we encounter. We need to humble ourselves to such a place to recognize our barrenness and cry out to the Lord, because our only hope for this earth is His return, where He will rule in perfect leadership.
Oh the joy that must have come to those who anticipated their Christ, “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11) They must have been thrilled to know that God was going to be with them in the flesh.
There were a few people who knew that Jesus was the Savior they were waiting on, but many religious Jews didn’t. Many people in the days of the birth of Jesus were living controlled by religious spirits, which blinded them to the Messiah in which they were waiting on. To think that someone would search their whole lives for their Savior, and then miss Him at His return is absurd. But the reality is that they were so driven by religion that they forgot it was about a Man, and made it about the law. The law became an idol to them and it destroyed their destiny in Christ. This must have pained Jesus’ heart in a way that we cannot even comprehend.
The humility and lowliness of Christ starts at His birth, lying in a manger, not in a palace being praised by kings. Jesus was pleased to be humble, having no recognition was a delight to Him. There was no room for Jesus in the inn so He had to lower Himself to the place where animals lived and ate. Much like in the world there was no room for Him so He dwelt with the sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes; the unworthy according to this world. Jesus was not seeking the approval of man. His whole life resembles the perfect picture of humility. God is vast, a shore less ocean waiting to be discovered; and the person of Jesus is equally as vast, He resembles the Father in every way, they are in unison. To think that the God of the universe could be expressed in the form of a humble man is beyond what our minds can grasp. Mary carried the fullness of God in her womb! Even at His birth, light and joy were revealed. Heaven was full of joy and worshipped God on the day of His birth.
Mary must have been awestruck when the angel Gabriel came to her saying that she was favored by God and that she would bear the Son of the Highest named Jesus. I wonder what was going through her mind when the angel told her that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and then she would bear a Son. The power of the person of Christ was present at the beginning of time, but we see glimpses of His nature even when He was in the womb. I just love that God included in the bible the part where John the Baptist leaps for joy in Elizabeth’s womb, and she was filled with the Holy Spirit. (Luke 1:41) The power we see here of Jesus bringing that kind of joy is a beautiful illustration of what was to come. The kingdom of God has always been about the beauty within. Mary found favor with God not because of looks or fame, but because of the beauty she carried within of a humble heart. (Luke 1:48) The song of Mary reveals the understanding she was given about the One she would soon birth. She had great revelation about the fear of the Lord; His mercy, humility, justice, compassion, goodness and blessing. (Luke 1:46-55) Because of her divine understanding she magnified the Lord with her soul. Mary had more faith than Zacharias did when the angel of the Lord appeared to her to tell her of the Son she would bear. Mary was blessed because of her faith.
Jesus brought much joy and light upon His earthly arrival. The joy and light that He brought was directly from heaven, from a place of truth, love, humility and faith.
Love Everlasting Aug 15th 2009
At the dawn of time the love song of me resounded in Your being.
The blueprint of my soul fascinated the depths of Yours.
In the womb of eternity You meditated on my beauty.
You were dancing, singing and rejoicing on the day of my birth.
Out of the overflow of love I was created.
The blueprint of my soul fascinated the depths of Yours.
In the womb of eternity You meditated on my beauty.
You were dancing, singing and rejoicing on the day of my birth.
Out of the overflow of love I was created.
Jesus the Healer- Mark 5:1-20
Jesus has such a different perspective of people than we do. In our natural, sinful minds we are so judgmental of other people. We always seem to notice all the issues people have rather than their qualities. We can so easily become hypocritical, arrogant, bitter, jealous, self righteous and disgusted when we think about certain people, inside or outside of the body of Christ. These mentalities are sinful and are an example of how wicked our flesh is. One example of this is the man with a legion of demons. This man was absolutely crazy, dangerous, uncontrollable and full of darkness (Mark 5:3-5). I imagine that guy in prison that must be confined at all times, the one that is the worst of the worst of bad guys, who everybody fears. In our fleshly minds we would have (and probably the minds of the people in that day) passed all kinds of judgment and extreme ideas of who he was. But Jesus on the other hand saw His beloved brother in the beautiful form that he was created in and had compassion on him because of the demons controlling him. Jesus saw that it wasn’t actually the man doing all the craziness, it was the 6,000 demons that had utterly taken him over.
Something that really speaks to my heart is that this man with a legion of demons, was really no different than you or I. He was created by the same God, for the same purpose. The power of darkness manifests differently in people, some are driven into mental illness, some homosexuality, some addiction, some a religious spirit, some pride, some lust, some offense ect… My point is that darkness is darkness, there is no better or worse form of darkness. The truth is that “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) We all need the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, just as much as the demon possessed man.
It almost seems like it would be better to have blatant sin which could easily be identified and delivered from; rather than having hidden areas of darkness of heart, that gets covered up over and over again. I think it was for this reason that Jesus spent so much time with the blatant sinners (prostitutes, tax collectors, sinners), because they were the ones who were humble enough to recognize and repent of their sin. Much more than those who struggled with the sin that could easily be hidden from people (Pharisees, Sadducees). Our sin is never hidden from Jesus. There is a certain level of willingness and desperation among those who are slaves of the obvious sin.
The authority that Jesus walked in is far beyond what meets the eye. Because of Jesus’ perfect discernment of good and evil, He was able to confront the evil and preserve what was good. So when Jesus approached the man with a legion, what He saw was His creation who was very much so created with a right mind (Mark 5:15), a gift in the area of evangelism (Mark 5:20) and he longed to be with Jesus (Mark 5:18). The only problem was 6,000 demons had gotten ahold of him, and caused the true person to be masked by these demons. So, Jesus having all authority and faith to cast out the demons, simply says, “Come out of the man, unclean spirits.” (Mark 5:8) And they had to submit, leaving the man in the way he was created to be. It is amazing the Lord gives us this same authority to cast out demons. We fallen and sinful beings have been entrusted with the same power and authority that Jesus walked in.
Out of the joyful and grateful heart that the man experienced after being healed and delivered from the hand of the enemy, he begged to stay with Jesus. He knew that what He experienced with Jesus was truth. After this Jesus gave him instruction to go and tell his hometown about all that He did for him and the compassion He showed. So the man went and proclaimed Jesus, “and all marveled.” (Mark 5:20) I believe that the people marveled for two reasons, one because the man was in his right mind. Second because there was probably a certain level of zeal and authority in his preaching, due to having such a dramatic encounter with the living God. He was a changed man, marked by the holy God to be a recipient of the eternal inheritance. Going back to the worst prison criminal, can you imagine him all of a sudden being completely ruined in love by love, full of compassion, marked with eternity, proclaiming Jesus to the prison guards and prisoners. Not impossible, but hard to picture, right? Well that is pretty much what happened in Mark 5:1-20. This is probably why the people were afraid in Mark 5:15, because they were used to seeing this man totally mental, destructive, using his strength to break chains. So to see him in his right mind was foreign to those who came out to see what was going on, they probably were cautious not knowing if at any moment he would go back to the craziness. I love that the man became an evangelist and proclaimed Jesus! It’s just like Jesus to do something so unthinkable as to save and deliver the one who everybody assumes to be incurable. But He does this to demonstrate the nature of God to have mercy on His people. This story encourages believers to hope for the ones who seem the most unlikely to get saved, healed, delivered and endued with power from on high. These testimonies are usually the ones that carry much power to release a spirit of revival to those who it is appointed. Jesus’ compassion and mercy on this man was a direct view of the person of Jesus. Whenever the person of Jesus is revealed, there is power that hits the human heart. And when that power hits the most hardened of hearts are rendered to that of Christ’s.
Something that really speaks to my heart is that this man with a legion of demons, was really no different than you or I. He was created by the same God, for the same purpose. The power of darkness manifests differently in people, some are driven into mental illness, some homosexuality, some addiction, some a religious spirit, some pride, some lust, some offense ect… My point is that darkness is darkness, there is no better or worse form of darkness. The truth is that “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) We all need the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, just as much as the demon possessed man.
It almost seems like it would be better to have blatant sin which could easily be identified and delivered from; rather than having hidden areas of darkness of heart, that gets covered up over and over again. I think it was for this reason that Jesus spent so much time with the blatant sinners (prostitutes, tax collectors, sinners), because they were the ones who were humble enough to recognize and repent of their sin. Much more than those who struggled with the sin that could easily be hidden from people (Pharisees, Sadducees). Our sin is never hidden from Jesus. There is a certain level of willingness and desperation among those who are slaves of the obvious sin.
The authority that Jesus walked in is far beyond what meets the eye. Because of Jesus’ perfect discernment of good and evil, He was able to confront the evil and preserve what was good. So when Jesus approached the man with a legion, what He saw was His creation who was very much so created with a right mind (Mark 5:15), a gift in the area of evangelism (Mark 5:20) and he longed to be with Jesus (Mark 5:18). The only problem was 6,000 demons had gotten ahold of him, and caused the true person to be masked by these demons. So, Jesus having all authority and faith to cast out the demons, simply says, “Come out of the man, unclean spirits.” (Mark 5:8) And they had to submit, leaving the man in the way he was created to be. It is amazing the Lord gives us this same authority to cast out demons. We fallen and sinful beings have been entrusted with the same power and authority that Jesus walked in.
Out of the joyful and grateful heart that the man experienced after being healed and delivered from the hand of the enemy, he begged to stay with Jesus. He knew that what He experienced with Jesus was truth. After this Jesus gave him instruction to go and tell his hometown about all that He did for him and the compassion He showed. So the man went and proclaimed Jesus, “and all marveled.” (Mark 5:20) I believe that the people marveled for two reasons, one because the man was in his right mind. Second because there was probably a certain level of zeal and authority in his preaching, due to having such a dramatic encounter with the living God. He was a changed man, marked by the holy God to be a recipient of the eternal inheritance. Going back to the worst prison criminal, can you imagine him all of a sudden being completely ruined in love by love, full of compassion, marked with eternity, proclaiming Jesus to the prison guards and prisoners. Not impossible, but hard to picture, right? Well that is pretty much what happened in Mark 5:1-20. This is probably why the people were afraid in Mark 5:15, because they were used to seeing this man totally mental, destructive, using his strength to break chains. So to see him in his right mind was foreign to those who came out to see what was going on, they probably were cautious not knowing if at any moment he would go back to the craziness. I love that the man became an evangelist and proclaimed Jesus! It’s just like Jesus to do something so unthinkable as to save and deliver the one who everybody assumes to be incurable. But He does this to demonstrate the nature of God to have mercy on His people. This story encourages believers to hope for the ones who seem the most unlikely to get saved, healed, delivered and endued with power from on high. These testimonies are usually the ones that carry much power to release a spirit of revival to those who it is appointed. Jesus’ compassion and mercy on this man was a direct view of the person of Jesus. Whenever the person of Jesus is revealed, there is power that hits the human heart. And when that power hits the most hardened of hearts are rendered to that of Christ’s.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Kansas City... Here I come!
I move in exactly two weeks to go to the International House of Prayer! Oh how I long to dwell in the house of the Lord!
Jesus I love You
Thank You Jesus that You have pulled me up out of the grave of my past and loved me to a measure far beyond my mind can even grasp. Oh Lord I am so thankful that You have allowed me to come to a place of rest in you. Jesus you prepared my heart to trust your ways. Lord I surrender it all to You because I trust that Your will is the only & sure way. It is the best feeling I have ever felt to know I am in the will of the Father. There is a peace and confidence that comes from trusting the uncreated God. The will of my life has come from such a deep and burning place of love for my soul, how could I deny that love?
As the bride of Christ I long to be equally yolked in love with You Jesus. From the place of that unfailing love You have for me teach me to love You the same way. There is nothing better, Your love has won my heart.
Jesus I love You
As the bride of Christ I long to be equally yolked in love with You Jesus. From the place of that unfailing love You have for me teach me to love You the same way. There is nothing better, Your love has won my heart.
Jesus I love You
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