Jesus’s passion was for the lost…it showed every time He spoke about them to His Disciples. What are you passionate about? What do you have great enthusiasm, fire and intensity for? God can take our passions and use them for His good everyday. For me, my passion is cooking and baking…you could call me a real “Foodie”. I will admit without shame that I have a library of cookbooks, plus 6 binders of collected recipes from the last 30 years. My poor long-suffering husband never knows what he’ll be eating, for I’m always trying new recipes out on him. But the Lord has me using this passion to bake cookies, birthday cakes, cupcakes, and cheesecakes to surprise and bless many, many people. He has taken my passion and focused it outward to bless others…He can do the same with yours.
Tag: jesus
Luke 5:31 ” Jesus answered them, ‘It is not the healthy that need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’ “
Most people don’t go to the Doctor if they’re not sick, and Jesus didn’t come to Earth to tell the righteous what a great job they were doing and sit around the campfire singing hymns…He came to show the Way for those who were lost and missing the mark. He came that the lost would have a change of heart, turn from sin, and embrace their Savior. “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” (Luke 19:10)
James 4:1-2 ” What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God.”
“I want, what I want, when I want it!” Anyone that’s seen a 3-year-old throwing a temper tantrum knows what this means. Most of the strife and disputes in our lives come from selfishness on our part… we crave, covet, and lust after things and want our way no matter who we have to go over to get it. We may be much older…we may not thrash around on the floor kicking and screaming…but we can still throw tantrums when we don’t get our own way. Some take a more passive/aggressive approach, while others pout and make life miserable for everyone around them until they relent…either way, a tantrum is a tantrum, whether you’re 3, 33, or 83.
Mark 10: 51-52 ” What do you want Me to do for you? Jesus asked him. The blind man said, Rabbi, I want to see. Go, said Jesus, your faith has healed you. Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.”
Jesus already knew what the blind Bartimaeus needed…so why did He ask what he wanted? The Greek word for “want” not only shows an exercise of the will…active determination, but also purpose…pressing on to action. Bartimaeus’s faith in this man Jesus grew from only hearing about Him and the miracles Jesus was performing, but this faith had grown to the point that he knew beyond a shadow of doubt that Jesus could heal his blindness. Physical sight was restored in an instant, but spiritual sight was also restored as he accompanied Jesus and His disciples down the road.
Ephesians 1:17 ” I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better.”
That you may know Him better…How many of us would raise our hand to have that? Paul prayed that the Lord would impart His Divine knowledge and reveal Himself fully to his friends in Ephesus…and in turn, they would be filled with depth of insight, and abounding in the knowledge of their Savior. So I ask you today, if you want that same kind of spiritual wisdom, ask the Lord to fill you with all understanding and insight in Him…so that you also may know Him better.
Romans 15: 5-6 ” May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
When tough times come into your life the Lord doesn’t want you to self-isolate away from the Body of Believers. Yes, God will give you the ability to remain tranquil in the mist of suffering, and He will exhort to firmly establish your faith. But there’s something about being with a group of like-minded people praying, and praising God for what He has and will be doing in our lives, that changes our perspective…our inward focus will move outward…our mind will be taken off ourselves, to others… The situation may not change…but we will.
Luke 17: 20-21 ” Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, ‘The Kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, Here it is, or There it is, because the Kingdom of God is within you.’ “
Jesus let the Religious Leaders know that despite how closely or attentively they were watching for the Kingdom to appear…it would not come in the way they were hoping or anticipating. They wanted God’s Kingdom to arrive with shock and awe, and overwhelming power and force. But instead, Jesus told them not to look here or there for it, but rather…to look in their hearts.
Luke 8: 5-8 ” A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.”
The farmers are in the fields around us planting grain in hopes of a great harvest this Fall. God’s Word is dispersed just like the farmers planting. His Word may go out, but be treated with no regard and ground under foot by this uncaring World…it may be heard by someone, but because they don’t understand it, Satan will snatch it away, whispering in their ear that they “don’t need that religious garbage.” His Word may be received with great joy by someone, only to lose it quickly and fall away when trouble comes into their life, because they were not rooted in Faith. Finally, His Word may be heard and received, but because of all the pressures and enticements of the World, they will never grow Spiritually, or be fruitful. But there are times when God’s Word will go forth and take root in someone’s life ,where it will grow, and reproduce, and that person will become more and more like Jesus everyday.
Psalm 33: 2 ” Praise the Lord with the harp; make music to Him…”
Years back, I was the Director of Nursing at a large Alzheimer’s Unit in Washington State. It was a very demanding, but yet very gratifying job. We had just admitted a lady with end-stage Alzheimer’s as well as many other serious medical problems.
She was not eating well, so I took it upon myself to sit with her during meals in the Dining Room to encourage her to eat. Music was an important part of our day in the Building…depending on the time of day, different types, rhythms, and tempos were played. Music Therapy can be used to help calm, motivate, and engage those lost to this Disease process known as Alzheimer’s. Lunch was over, everyone had left the Dining Room ,except this lady and me. I went over to the CD Player and selected an instrumental CD of Celtic harp music. As the music filled the empty space, she suddenly looked, pointed and smiled. I asked her what she was looking at…she asked me if I couldn’t see the angels playing the beautiful music?? Oh, I wish I could have, but from the look on her face it was a wonderful performance…she died a day later… and I can only imagine with those same angels welcoming her home with heavenly music.
Luke 24:5 ” Why do you look for the living among the dead? “
The angel asked this query of the women who had come to the tomb of Jesus…but, I would ask you the same question. Have you been trying to fill your life with empty, useless things of the world…ever searching, but never filling that emptiness inside. The stagnant and futile things of the world will never compare to the breathing, living things of God. So, I would ask you again this question…Why do you look for the living among the dead?
Safetypinlove 