Saved and not destroyed

““I will make Jerusalem into a heap of ruins,” says the Lord. “It will be a place haunted by jackals. The towns of Judah will be ghost towns, with no one living in them.” Who is wise enough to understand all this? Who has been instructed by the Lord and can explain it to others? Why has the land been so ruined that no one dares to travel through it? The Lord replies, “This has happened because my people have abandoned my instructions; they have refused to obey what I said.”
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭9:11-13‬ ‭NLT‬‬
Jerusalem, a city that has been through it. Jerusalem has had to fight for their life. They have been destroyed and rebuilt. Jerusalem, almost at times can feel more like us than just a city or a land. You ever felt like this? Have you ever felt that God had given you a death sentence. That it seemed like God had just left you alone and abandoned you? Think about this. According to a study Jerusalem “During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times.” Its all because of the disobedience that Jerusalem was doing.

HERE IT IS…

God saved them that many times because he loved them. God protected them because he wanted to see them prosper. Even though they had to deal with the consequences of their disobedience he still loved them. Fast forward to 2020 in your house. In your chair. In your couch. At your job. In your car. Where you are, even in our disobedience God saved us. Even through feeling like we were captured, besieged, attacked it’s because of our decisions and disobedience. Yet you are still here. Why? Because he has something he has for you. You are chosen. Now walk in it. Your saved by grace. New mercy everyday.

Infinity

“For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”
‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭4:17-18‬ ‭NLT‬‬
Last night I was watching a movie called “Lucy”. I love the movie itself but I love the scientific theories in the movie also. One line that gets me every time I see the movie is at the end she explains that time is the only measurement of things. She says that humans have used numbers and letters to try and confine and control things to our understanding. Then she says this. “Take a car driving down the road, speed it up infinitely the car is still there we just can’t see it because we don’t have the ability to see infinitely.” Blew my mind because God is infinite. God is omnipresent. Gods timing is not our timing. Truth is sometimes when God moves he moves so fast it blows our mind.

HERE IT IS…

Why are you seeing right now? What has your attention? What has been pressing you or troubling you? I believe that we get so caught up in what is going on right now that we try to slow time down so much that we fail to realize we can delay what God is doing. How? Because we want to stay in the place of the problem and try and fix it and lose sight of what is coming. I’m not saying DONT deal with the issue, but what I am saying is Dont wallow in it. Allow God to do what he does best and work a miracle. Focus your mind on the prize and let God move. Truth is when we try and do it we are just going to mess it up anyway. Let God work.

Because…

Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence.
Ephesians 3:12 NLT
What would you do if you couldn’t pray for yourself? What would you do if you could not literally pray for yourself. Meaning you had to go to someone else to ask the to pray to God for you about your stuff. Those prayers we pray after we have did something we were not supposed to and told not to and and we wouldn’t do again. We now have to repeat those things back to another person to pray that God forgives you. Your prayer is now based on how someone else prays for you. I asked my son and my daughter and they both exclaimed with a turned up face, “that’s to much!”.
HERE IT IS…
Because of Christ, you can now come into Gods presence. I’m sorry you have to forgive me I missed a portion. Because of Christ we can come boldly and confidently… I did it again. The bible says that because of Christ AND OUR FAITH IN HIM… Christ came so that we might have life and have it more abundantly. That doesn’t mean you dont have to do anything, that means that your faith level should be in a place and high enough that you can boldly and confidently come to God and pray. Christ died for you, me, us… he came that we can have a right to salvation and eternity. He came to intercede for us. He came so that we can have a direct connection to the father. Your activation is your faith…

Full

“I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭15:13‬ ‭NLT‬‬
Have you ever been full? I’m talking full from eating food that you really love. Thanksgiving dinner? Christmas? Easter? The family reunion? These times of year are the times we know without a shadow of a doubt that we will eat really good. The reason that you are full is because those people in the kitchen took a whole bunch of stuff and put it together and made the goods that you and I love to eat. They provided the things needed to receive all the food that we love to eat. We know that the source of great food comes from the kitchen. Where is the source of your Joy and your peace? What’s the source of your protection and love?

HERE IT IS…

Paul said “I pray that God the SOURCE…” the one who makes it all happen. The one who takes what we see as negative and makes it work for our good. He said, “FILL you completely with joy and peace…” see the way our bodies work we will only be full for a period of time until we make room for desert. God will completely FILL you and it won’t run out. Lastly he says, “you will OVERFLOW with confident hope…” see the source of hope wants to fill you with joy and peace so that you will OVERFLOW with confident hope through the Holy Spirit. If you stay connected to the source you will never feel/fill empty because your always on full.

Stronger for it

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭12:1‬ ‭NLT‬‬
In my daily workout I have incorporated wearing a weight belt around my waist to add extra weight when I walk, pushups, and pull-ups. What it does for me is it gives my body extra weight to on me to move. It allows my legs to get stronger and my arms to get stronger because I have to use more strength to do the exercises. As I’m doing them my body has to pull something out of itself that it’s not use to. My mind knows how much body weight I have, but when I add Acura weight to myself my mind and body responds by exerting more energy and strength. What happens is that your body will get used to it and eventually I get used to it and it becomes easy.

HERE IT IS…

You may think that God has added a lot on you. You may think that the weight that your carrying is heavy. You may think that it’s causing your mind to go crazy because there is so many things going on. But then, your spirit responds. God responds but sending you help through the Holy Spirit. What happens after I work out is that I come home and I take the weight belt off and I feel lighter and better but because I carried it I am stronger for it. What your going through and experiencing is not weighing you down, but making you stronger. The weight that your carrying you can take it off you and give it to God. When you do your smarter, wiser, stronger for it. Use it to make you better.

He hears you

Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the fish. He said, “I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble, and he answered me. I called to you from the land of the dead, and Lord , you heard me!

Jonah 2:1‭-‬2 NLT

I cannot count the times that I have got into a situation, made a bad choice, or even messed up something all because I didn’t listen. I can not begin to tell you just how many times I have been through some stuff that I caused because I wanted to go the opposite direction because it’s what I wanted to do. I would lose track of the amount of times that I have placed people I love in a situation all because of my decisions. However, I also cannot begin to count the times that I have been rescued by God from situations I have caused. I cannot count the amount of times that God places his hedge of protection around me because of the choice I made to not listen. Nor the fact that I messed up then prayed and he heard me and came and helped me.
How many times have you been at the bottom of the situation and you prayed and God heard you?
How many times have you felt almost at the brink of death, or giving up and he brought you back?

HERE IT IS…

Jonah is IN the belly of the fish, in the middle of the of all this mess all because he made a choice to run from God’s direction. He has the audacity to pray and ask for help. He made the decision to jump on a boat and try and run and then place others in harm’s way. Gets swallowed by the fish and finds a place where he can pray. And God heard him. Even in your mess and even in your situation that you caused if you just find a place in the midst of your disobedience and pray, God will hear you. Jonah prayed for 3 days in the belly of this great fish and God heard him. 3 days, which means God didn’t rescue him right away, but he heard him. You may not get rescued immediately, but God still hears you. No matter what your going through, pray anyway.

They mad?

“Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. But the people were displeased. “He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭19:6-7‬ ‭NLT‬‬
Man this is one of the hardest lessons I had to learn in my life. I have had some bumps and bruises in my life but the one thing that used to bother me the most was this. I mean I used to get upset and feel like it was me. It was absolutely nothing that I did. Zacchaeus has to go through it too. And he didn’t even say anything. Jesus is the one that invited himself to Zacchaeus house. He didn’t ask he told him I’m coming to your house today. All Zacchaeus did was follow directions. Yet and still the people got mad.

HERE IT IS…

Why are you trying to figure out why people are made at you? Why are you trying to figure what it is YOU did? Why do you think it’s something you did? Truth of the matter is that Jesus told you to go. Jesus told you to be there. Jesus places you at that table. Jesus put you in that room. Jesus got the house and the car. It’s not anything you did. She here is the difference. We have a way of doing stuff and THROWING it in people face. God has a way of doing stuff for you and DOING it in FRONT of people,Psalms 23:5. So don’t get made at something you didn’t do because the truth is there’s is coming they just not willing to climb the tree like you.

Clear the way

The prophet Isaiah was speaking about John when he said, “He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord ’s coming! Clear the road for him!’”
Matthew 3:3 NLT
When I was in the military we had a exercise where they took all of us out to the woods and we had to use everything that they taught us through our training. We had to use the skills that they showed us, from reading maps, to preparing for an ambush, to surviving with limited resources. Before we went out to the woods the Drll Sgts. cleared away for us. Their were paths, and they’re were check points we had to advance to. And even ways of escape from ambushes. While we were there, even though it was a training of survival of what could happen, we still had away made for us. As best as they could they tried to make it seem like a real experience.

HERE IT IS…

John was that for Jesus, and Jesus is that for you. You may feel like life is hard. You may feel like there is no way out. You may feel like your being ambushed. It may feel like your in the woods. Thanks be unto God who sent us someone who went to the wilderness and cleared a path for us. Thanks be unto God who sent someone who died for us. Thanks be unto God that he thought of you and I so much that he sent someone and gave us a model of what we are to do. Jesus came so that we can have life and have it more abundantly. Your path may not be the prettiest. Your path may not be the smoothest. Your path may not be how you thought it would be. God has already cleared a path for you. And has already created away for you to get through it.

He is looking for YOU

“When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. “Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.””
‭‭Luke‬ ‭19:5‬ ‭NLT‬‬
There is a movie called Avatar that came out a couple years ago that I love to watch. In this movie one of the characters is in a place of desperation because he is trying to help a race of people or aliens to him. He has to make a plan on how to 1. Gain there trust back after he was founded out. 2. Rally them to fight against his own people. The only way to do it was to some how capture the control of the biggest and baddest animal in the land. The way he did it was by saying this. Since he is the baddest animal in the land, he had no reason to look up.” He was at the top of the food chain and had no reason to look up.

HERE IT IS…

Jesus Christ had to look up at Zacchaeus in the tree. Not only because he was short and climbed the tree to see Jesus. Not only because he heard a rustling in the tree and it caught his attention. Truth is Jesus could have parted the crowd and called Zacchaeus to him. I believe that Jesus looked up to display what our sins will look like on a tree. Go back and read chapter 19. Zacchaeus was a wealthy and greedy tax collector. A sinful man. But Jesus looked up. He shows us what we will have to do to be with him. Hang that stuff up. Hang your sins up. Hang the problems up. Because when he comes down into your life you will never be the same.

What would you do?

“He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree beside the road, for Jesus was going to pass that way.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭19:3-4‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I have missed a lot of great people in concert that I would have love to see. And even now COVID-19 has created a wrinkle in a whole lot of plans that was supposed to happen. But there were and are some people that I wanted to see concert that I would say money was no object. I would try to get where ever they were just to see them perform. Sing the songs that I know l. Have them point in the audience and feel like they pointed directly at me. Jumping around to my favorite song and enjoying the experience.

HERE IT IS…

Zacchaeus has the chance of a lifetime to see one of the best things to ever happen in this world in books and music and life period. Except Zacchaeus don’t have a ticket and instead of being sad he climbs into a tree to just catch a glimpse. What are you doing to get a glimpse of Jesus? We will catch planes and spend money at hotels to see “superstars” when the brightest star actually wants to stay at your house. What are you doing to just catch a glimpse? We are all like Zacchaeus no matter how y’all you are. Because we have all fallen short of the glory of God. He climbed a tree for you. What are you going to do?