2 Timothy 2:11-13
1 Here is a trustworthy saying:
A Trustworthy Saying
1
Category Archives: Jesus
20 Days To Pentecost
So they waited…… and began to plan
20 days to the gift that Jesus promised.
The disciples didn’t stand around with their hands folded they prayed and began to plan, several of the apostles went back to Jerusalem as Peter addressed a crowd of 120, he spoke about the scriptures and how they were fulfilled “through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who served as a guide for those who arrested Jesus- he was one of our number, Peter tells them, and shared in this ministry.” Acts 1:16-17
When Judas betrayed Jesus, the reward for his wickedness was that he bought a field, he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out. Everybody in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field Akeldema, Field of Blood.
The apostles didn’t wait around and complain about their circumstances they took action, they had to choose someone to take Judas’ place for leadership, it had to be someone from John’s baptism to when Jesus was taken up, that person needed to be a witness of the resurrection. Vs 21-22
They purposed two men, Joseph called Barabbas (also known as Justus) and Mathias. Then they prayed for the Lord to show them the one He chooses to take over the apostolic ministry that Judas left to go where he belongs. Vs 25. Then they cast lots and it fell on Matthias and he was added to the eleven.
Just as you and I wait in these days of uncertainty, the apostles felt the same, Jesus said wait in Jerusalem, we wait in our circumstances, God has a plan in our waiting, it’s not for nothing. He wants us to draw closer to Him, wait and pray, not to give up hope. Be open to his plan and be receptive to His call as the Apostles did, waiting is growth and seeing things in a different perspective, God’s hand holds us back as allows us to see the bigger picture and gives us time to heal, forgive and grieve. Don’t waste time worrying, Jesus tells us that, don’t waste the precious time you have on that, instead try to embrace wherever you are and make the best of it all.
Shalom
Nancy
The Christian Writer
32 Days to Pentecost
So they waited……
During the time that the Apostles were waiting for the gift Jesus promised, they didn’t fold their hands and wait, they took action, they walked back to Jerusalem gathered together and prayed.
Acts 1:12-14
Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city. 13 When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. 14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
When you don’t know what to do, do you seek God for answers as the Apostles did?
They walked with Jesus, they saw Him go out alone to seek His Father for direction and guidance but Jesus could not sit still He took action, He prayed and walked ahead, He came into people’s lives and changed them for eternal rewards not earthly. He gave hope to those who were suffering, healing to the sick and love to the unlovable. Maybe what you have a story to share and that would bring hope to someone, just as Jesus took action, we have the gift of sharing His love with others as He tells us to “Feed His Sheep”.
Do you continue to share your life story with others who may need that encouragement?
Are you taking the time to sit with the Father in prayer?
Shalom
Nancy
The Christian Writer
37 Days to Pentecost
The Gift is coming!
On one occasion while He (Jesus) was eating with them, He gave them this command:
“Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. Fot John baptized with water but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Why is this important?
The Holy Spirit draws us closer to Jesus, the Holy Spirit is a calming gift from above and you will see what Jesus does as we draw closer to the day.
Stay tuned!
Shalom, Nancy
The Christian Writer
Rejoice He Has Risen!
After Jesus died on the cross, a rich man named Joseph who was a disciple of Jesus went to Pilate and asked for Jesus body and he gave his new tomb over to Jesus and wrapped Him in clean linen cloth and rolled a stone in front of the tomb. After preparation day the chief Priest and Pharisees went to Pilate to have the tomb guarded because they were afraid of what Jesus said about rising again after three days. So a guard was sent- but that wasn’t going to stop our Lord!
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to the tomb after Sabbath at dawn, there was a violent earthquake and an Angel of the Lord came down from heaven and rolled back the stone and sat on it. He shone like lightening and they were afraid but the angel assured them not to be and that Jesus was no longer there that He Has Risen!
The angel tells them Jesus is going ahead of them into the city and to go tell the disciples. We can’t imagine the joy they must have felt knowing that the Lord has come back to life, He was resurrected from the dead, He Defeated Death and is the only Living God.
Make no mistake about it, the account of this part of His life should assure you that God loves you and that no matter what you have done you can go to Jesus and confess your sins and ask for His forgiveness and make Him your Lord and Savior.
HE HAS RISEN
Shalom
Nancy
The Christian Writer
Ref: Matthew 27, 28
Peter Denies Jesus, Scriptures Are Fulfilled
Jesus and His disciples are sitting together at the table, Jesus makes a bold statement:
“You will all fall away.” And letting them know- “it is written – I will strike the Shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.” Zechariah 13:7
Then Jesus tells them- “but after I have risen I will go ahead of you into Galilee”
Peter says “ Even if all fall away I will not.” But this is not the case as Jesus tells him, “Before the rooster crows twice you will deny me three times.” At this Peter empathizes with Jesus and says I will die with you and won’t disown you, so did the disciples.
Right after they were finished eating as Jesus goes the the Garden of Gethsemane, he’s praying and deeply distressed, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.”
He asks the disciples to watch and pray and says to them don’t fall asleep “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” They did fall asleep and Jesus says the hour has come and I’m going to be betrayed into the hands of sinners, just as he says this they come for him and Judas is at the lead with a crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent by the chief priest, elders and teachers of the law.
Judas walks up to Jesus and gives him a kiss signaling them that he was the one. Peter steps up, striking Malchus, the servant of the high priest cutting off his ear. But Jesus healed and restored him, saying “i’m not leading a rebellion, you have seen me everyday teaching in the temple courts, you didn’t arrest me then, but the scriptures are being fulfilled.
…….and they took Jesus to Caiaphas the high priest.
Next post: Jesus Faces High Priest & Roman Governor
Shalom
Nancy
The Christian Writer
Ref: Matthew 26
Hope or Despair?
With so much uncertainty in the world, where do you turn?
There is one hope and that is in Jesus.
In this chaos we are all facing- there is a reason for this , God wants us to draw closer to Him.
To know that He is still in control to stay focused on Him not the disorder.
This parable should help you understand where your walk with God is-Jesus spoke in spiritual truths through parables, here is a story of a farmer scattering seed.
Luke 8:4-8
4 While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: 5 “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 ate it up. 6 Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.”
When he said this, he called out, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
Now Jesus will unravel this truth to His disciples-
Luke 8:9-10
His disciples asked him what this parable meant. 10 He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that,
“‘though seeing, they may not see;
though hearing, they may not understand.’
Now Jesus will break it down for us-
Luke 8:11-15
“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. 12 Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. 14 The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. 15 But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.
Do you hear the word of God spoken to you?
What soil are you?
Are you focusing in on the troubles you face instead of what God has promised?
Are you receiving God’s word and encouraging others?
God will send people to you that need encouragement not despair, point them to Him and not to the problems, to be faithful in your walk and love them. This is our command from Him, to share the good news, not bad news. My hope today is that you will hear these words and know that this to shall pass, put your hope in Christ. Our time here on earth is short, but our real home is heaven-eternal life with Jesus.
Lastly……
The word of God has sustained and given peace where there has been no peace. No matter what we do or how things turn out, our hope is in Jesus and when we believe this we will find peace beyond our own understanding.
Spread joy and the light of Christ in the midst of darkness.
Shalom
Nancy
The Christian Writer
God Directs Us To A Better Route
I usually don’t share my dreams but this one I needed to share with you and it really got t me thinking about how God directs our lives.
I was riding on a very tall horse through the woods and I knew the presence of my husband also riding a horse behind me, I rode up to a steep cliff, almost falling but stopped. I looked to my left and there was a better route, so I turned the horse easily to go through a path lined with trees and I looked to my right there was a shorter leap for the horse to the way down, I rallied the horse, and got him ready to jump. We circled big and took slight run and we made it! Then the dream ended.
But it had me thinking.
When life’s circumstances get you to the “edge” there is always a better route, one that isn’t so complicated as we sometimes make things into. When you follow Christ there are no easy routes but ways that God can guide you through.
People walk in and out of our lives and we don’t understand why, we are detained in a job or a life “holding pattern” for reasons we could not possibly understand. Maybe it’s a position at work or promotion you have been waiting for and a daunting year by year process with no progress made. But don’t let the things that hold you hostage determine your route- just take a better one as God leads you along.
Just possibly when things don’t go the way you have the option of two routes-be upset, angry, anxiety filled , frustrated or you can be looking to God to see that all of this is His master plan for you. You may think- “If that’s God’s master plan, it sure isn’t a good one!” But you see the hardest places are where we must stop, pray & look to Him to open our minds for a change in the circumstances we are facing. He may be keeping us there for a long term reason of strengthening, growing and teaching you patience and sometimes even opening your heart to someone who may be unloveable or needs your love.
We just can’t know or understand God’s plan, but it’s always a better route!
I think of King David, when anointed to be a King at a young age, do you think he knew he had to wait 16 years to be the King of Israel, he fled from King Saul ’s jealously of trying to kill him, talk about being frustrated? But David was a man after God’s own heart and waited for him to direct him to a better route. David trusted God as even in David’s darkest moments he turned to His Father in Heaven in prayer. Each day was a challenge, but he fully depended on God’s plan and direction.
Do you seek God’s master plan for your life and circumstances?
Or
Do you remain bitter, frustrated and give up on things because what you thought you should have gotten didn’t happen?
Matthew 7:8
For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
Let it go to Him.
Shalom
Nancy
When Your Plans Fall Apart
Everyone makes plans, maybe you have mapped out your plan with steps toward it and a general time when you will arrive at the goal or maybe you have had a lifelong dream to achieve something that you think could be the right direction for you, then as you go along you don’t see progress towards that dream. You wait, you try, you pray, but to no avail that dream, that vision- just isn’t going the way you thought it would and now you are left with- what do I do and where do I go from here?
I’ve had two large dreams fall apart so far in my life, the first one I ran after with a vengeance, I loved the whole process of moving towards the dream, many of the people around me could see that it was only a dream not a reality. It was consuming me as I worked, breathed it in, it was my food and it came crashing down on me in a day’s time. I loved it, it took me away from my family and time with them as I was striving for a dream that now was gone, no turning back or even trying again. It was clear the door was shut, it took me a very long time to recover.
The second dream was similar except that I felt God was calling me to it and worked on it for a very long time, studying, praying, hoping a door would open but the difference was that this time I relied on God’s leading to bring me to it. I could not except that what He was leading me to was very different journey than my mapping out had hoped for, believe me I tried and tried to go in the direction that I thought would get me there, there again, I found myself delusional to think that I was achieving anything great. That was the problem, “I was achieving” I was counting on my success to fulfill what God’s plan was for me, He is so gentle and patient, He waited for me to come to an understanding.
God had given me a different direction to go in and it was hard for me to except that.
But you see God did something in both dreams, He gave me an opportunity to see truth in what I was striving to do.
Was I really suppose to be consumed by a dream?
Was I to see what would happen if I did achieve it?
What would I have been a slave to and what was I a slave to for so long?
Did I take my eyes off God and look at the dream not Him?
Hey-I’m not saying to give up your dreams, because if you have them and you feel led to follow it, go for it-what I am saying is, have a dream, map it out and let God direct your path, if it’s not going the way you wanted or right for you He will guide you to what is, maybe it won’t be exactly what you wanted- but MUCH BETTER!
Why do I say that?
To those who believe in Jesus he does not throw crumbs, He gives the bread of life, He leads you to fresh water which is so much more satisfying to the soul than anything you can achieve here on earth!
Make your plans and see what God is going to do with them, pray for them, don’t give up, something is coming and it could take a while but you will see how much He loves you just by preventing you from things that are wrong for your life and others around you.
Proverbs 16:9
In their hearts humans plan their course
but the lord establishes
their steps
Shalom,
Nancy
The Christian Writer
Hope When There Is No Hope
Have you been struggling with many different circumstances that you just have no answer for. Well you are not alone in this, there is hope when you think there is no hope.
God sees your heart and knows what is going on so don’t worry about what isn’t or is happening, allow Him to guide you through the darkest of days.
There is hope that tomorrow will be a s better day for you. What you are going through will not last.
We can only see what our eyes tell us, but it is what is unseen that we hope for and as we pray and have faith that God will show you the way, it is then that we can find the solution to what is wrong. When you are finding such things are happening to you, maybe it’s time to step back and wait for God to show you what to do. For He is in control, not us.
Be kind to people who frustrate you, be gracious to those who are not fair and be hopeful for all that God promises you. He will not leave you or forsake you, it is He who guides your path and makes a way. Now you must do your part and believe that He will.
Jesus tells us in John 15:5
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
Shalom
Nancy
The Christian Writer
