Taking Nothing

When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases,  and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.  He told them: “Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt.  Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. If people do not welcome you, leave their town and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”  So they set out and went from village to village, proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere.   Luke 9: 1-6


Don't most of us, before we leave the house, check and make sure we have every provision with us.  Wallet(cash, cards, ID), tissues,  chap stick, lipstick, makeup, tide pen, band aids, hand sanitizer, etc etc.
If you have children the list increases exponentially! We MUST be prepared!

And not just us women! I know men who have their "man purses" Oh, they tell me "IT is NOT a purse!" I ask..."does it carry anything you could need in most any situation?" then it is a purse!
Just because it is in backpack form doesn't mean it isn't a purse! 😉

I jest..but don't almost all of us like to be prepared.  We are supposed to have ID and our license if we are driving.  What kind of parent would go somewhere with out provision for their little ones (diapers, wipes..snacks ..extra clothes, extra pacifiers!😉)
But in the verses in Luke Christ TELLS His disciples to take NOTHING.  no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt
That rules out everything!  No aid for the travel...the paths/roads were sometimes rough, dangerous terrain, and they would walk many miles to get from town to town. Their staff provided aid in walking, protection against wild animals, and support when weary.
No bag...NO MAN PURSE to hold those important needed items!  No bread, no sustenance to keep their strength up.  No money, no financial way of securing food, shelter or any other provisions they might need.
No extra shirt, meaning no clean clothes to change into when they would arrive at a new town dusty, dirty, and stinky to share the gospel!

What would they have then!!????!
They would have God's provision!
When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases,  and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.   
HE called them,
HE gave them Power and Authority! 
HE sent them!
IF Christ did all that, HE would provide for their every need!

It wasn't about the trip, the roads, any of that....it was about what CHRIST was going to do!
We may think we "need" all kinds of resources before we can go and tell someone about Christ, but all we need is our humbled, repentant, redeemed hearts! We don't need theology degrees, shelves full of bible studies, E-book commentaries, our big purses or man-purses!.  We need our hearts surrendered to Christ, willing to be obedient!

In the gospels Jesus said 21 times (according to my count)  "follow-me"!

Will you today?! Follow HIM?!  Even if you don't have any earthly resources!  HE will provide ALL you need as you work for His glory!

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

Another thought that occurred to me as I read this was......"Don't take any baggage"!

We all have baggage... past experiences;hurtful, disappointing, unfulfilling, poor choices....that might influence and hinder our witness to others...

leave it behind!  

 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17

ALL that is gone!  You move forward in Christ a new person!

Start your journey right now, drop all the baggage and go!

O God, You Are My God ( Step By Step) Michael W Smith

Getting it Right

By the title you might think I have some trick or some great wisdom to impart about how I always get it right.  Far from it!!
My family insist on quoting the young child me, often...even family members who were not around at the time...didn't even exist at the time....
I made a statement once when I was told it was time to go to bed..."I am never tired and never wrong!"  I don't believe that statement got me out of going to bed, and it clearly has NOT been proven correct over the past 45+ years since.
I have been wrong....just ask my children...or my husband!  And Tired..
We won't go there (you mom's know!!)

My thoughts started as I read a devotion this morning from Girl Friends in God.

Girl Friends In God. Help For the Heart That Worries

For those of you who can't make the link work, or aren't able to go to the link (which I do encourage because it is a great read)
I will try to summarize here:  The author Gwen Smith and a friend were talking about the difficulty of trusting God, fully, completely trusting, with all things...then her friend shares this little story....

God impressed a message on my heart this morning that challenged and convicted me! I just have to tell you about it. I ride motorcycles. Have for years. I love the feeling of being out in the open air. It’s exciting and invigorating. When I ride, I feel vulnerable and alert. It’s risky and requires balance, it’s much more difficult than driving my car, but I ride because it energizes me and makes me feel alive.

            This morning I rode my bike to work while it was still dark. I don’t usually do that because the headlight is small, so the light is dim. As I was riding, I began to thank God for allowing me to ride my bike to work. I thanked him for allowing me to feel alive and energized along the way. And as I did, He spoke to my heart. I sensed He was saying, “Erica! This is what I want my relationship with you to be like: exciting, risky, and energizing, like riding your motorcycle! But instead you take your car with me. You want to feel safe. You want to see with brighter headlights. You grasp for more control, by worrying and fretting about things you can do nothing about. In doing so, you miss out on a faith that is alive and energizing... a faith that trusts me and takes risks.   Girl Friends In God. Help For the Heart That Worries

SO me and my twisted little brain thinks...."what if I were to read this and think....this means God is telling me to get a MOTORCYCLE!!"

😂😂LAUGH!

and then I thought....we read scripture and have God reveal things to us, how do we know we are getting it right?!

I am going to be honest....I am always tired and mostly wrong!!  So I DON'T know!

I DO know that if we are IN GOD'S word daily, often, then we have a better chance of "understanding" God better.

Why is it that when a toddler is babbling and you are trying to understand what they are trying to communicate to you, their mom walks in the room and immediately knows what they are saying?  Because Mom spends more time with them than you do and can "speak their language",

The more time you spend listening to someone the easier it is to understand them.

The more time you spend with your heavenly Father, the more you will understand Him.  

And scripture is the best way to do that.  You can begin to understand His "language" better.   Especially if you read the bible as a whole.  

 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,  so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.  2 Timothy 3:16-17

"God breathed", "inspired by God", His words to us!!  How can we not want to sit down and devour every word!!

And It's purposes:

1. teaching

2. rebuking

3. correcting

4. training

Number 1....to teach, so that we understand what His will is.

  Do 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. Romans 12:2

We are to renew our minds to be like that of Christ, and in that process we will be transformed....into someone who will know what God's will is.  

This isn't some kind of fortune telling, or holding the Bible up to your head and closing your eyes and saying "ummm.....I think that the bible is telling me to......"

It takes time, energy and a true desire to know God's heart through His word.

The verse before the one above ....

Therefore, 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.12:1

We are to give our bodies as a "living sacrifice", meaning that; anything we could possibly think is more important than getting to know God our Father better, think again. Our whole existence is because of Him, so giving Him every part of ourselves is a must!

He gave us lives to live, but how we live those out becomes more clear, the more we get to know Him.

SO back to my original statement...Getting It Right.

We DON'T ....God DOES.  We get it right by making sure we understand Him.

AND don't be discouraged....this is a life long process!  at least it is for me!  My reading and studying is not always strong.  Life distracts, selfishness overrides, weariness pulls.

BUT TODAY IS A NEW DAY!  and I want to get it right!  So ...find my bible (in what ever form that takes...the old, thin pages one, the one on your computer or phone) and find a quiet spot....(or not so quiet Mom's with little ones, but a quieter spot or time) and just say "Hello God, How are you today?  I was hoping to spend some time with you...maybe get to know You a little better today! Just hoping to Get it Right today!"

As Rick Warren in his "What On Earth Am I Hear For" book, repeated,  "Today, God,  I want to love You a little more and know You a little better!"

That is all that we can do, but if we do that with all our heart, soul, mind and strength ....then we will Get It Right!!! (most of the time!)

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind."  This is the first and greatest commandment. Matthew 22:37-38

A Survey Driven Christianty

Have you noticed that there are survey's everywhere?!  Every receipt you get from a store the clerk must now take a highlighter and let you know that there is a survey you can do "if you go to this web address" and "you can win"  a store gift card, cash...etc etc.
When you go to a hospital or even doctors office, you receive a tablet with "a short survey".  Web sites have pop-ups.."please take a moment to tell us what you think".
Restaurants the same.
We have become a survey driven society.  To the point, where some hospitals recieve some of their monies  based on those surveys!
It got me thinking (of course);
What if our Chritianity was survey based?
On Sunday when we get home from church a little message flashes for God..."tell us what you think?  Rate today's worship"
How many stars might you get?
Or when looking at your heart during worship..."on a scale of 1-5...5 being completely surrendered and in-line with Christ....."
Hey, Sunday we might score alright.
What about during the week?  Friday night?  Satuday morning?
How would our survey look then?!
I am PRAISING God right now it doesn't work quite that way!!

Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. John 1:16

"No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

Acts 15:11-13

Love that word Grace!!!

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his love for those who fear him;

as far as the east is from the west,
    so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

As a father has compassion on his children,
    so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; Psalm 103:11-13

I will strive every day to achieve a "5 out of 5" ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐!  Because I want nothing more than to bring honor and glory to my Lord and Savior!
But I live in the truth that His grace covers me because my reality that is what I need! 

Praise the Lord, my soul;
    all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
 Praise the Lord, my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits—
 who forgives all your sins
    and heals all your diseases,4 who redeems your life from the pit
    and crowns you with love and compassion,5 who satisfies your desires with good things
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Psalm 103:1-5

I know I have shared this song before....but it is a good one for today!
Grace Wins. Matthew West

My Jesus Is Broken

He was being handled by those who didn't know...He fell and He broke!  What to do?!
Does He go back broken to where He had been before? My Father picked Him up in His large calloused, but gentle hands.."I will fix Him.  I will take Him home,  fix Him and bring Him back good as new!"
Then comes the waiting...looking at the spot where He should be.  Not sure if He would be coming back.
BUT TODAY my Father brought my Jesus back!!

This is a true story!  I have a Easter figure set...and the children like to hold Jesus!  But the figure was inadvertently dropped and broke.  My dad (and Mom) rush to the rescue and say they will take it home to repair it!  Because that is what parents do...no matter how old we are!
And 2 weeks later, on Easter Sunday my dad brought Jesus home!

Another true story!
Our Jesus was being "handled" by people who didn't know....they did not realize who He was!

He was despised and rejected by mankind,
    a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces    he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Isiah 53:3

And in their ignorance they rejected Him.  Falsely accused Him, sentenced Him and executed Him.

His crime...  "King of the Jews"  was what they wrote.  

But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,    and by his wounds we are healed. Isiah 53:5

They broke Him. They beat Him, spat at Him before He was hung on that cross to die.

They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him,  and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.  After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.  Matthew 27:28-31

Just as there were many who were appalled at him—
    his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being    and his form marred beyond human likeness— Isaiah h 52:14

He was taken down and put in a borrowed tomb. 

Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,  and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. Matthew 27:59-60

And they waited, scared, uncertain what was next.  

BUT the Father, on the third day....knowing the greater plan all along, wakes Jesus from the dead!

 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ”  Luke 24:7

This is what we celebrate Easter Sunday!

Our Father took Jesus home, fixed Him and then brought Him back to us!!!  And scripture says He is coming back again!

"At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.  Matthew 24:30-31

Isn't it wonderful!  Our Jesus didn't stay " broken"!  He was raised from the dead...so that we don't have to stay broken!!
If we believe in who Christ is and what He has done for us God will fix our brokenness and restore us!!! Amen!!

Last year I posted a song...which is my Easter anthem....here it is that post again for any who would like to see it.

He's Alive!!