Jesus' Invitation~

This DEVO was originally published March 4, 2014

Greetings in the mighty name of Jesus!

Psalm 34:8 "Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him."

Decades ago when I first met Jorge he and I would go out to eat (Remember Sizzler?), and I would always order my steak well done – hockey puck style. This, of course, was highly offensive to Jorge, who was labeled a protein pig by a college professor and loved it!  He considers himself a steak connoisseur, and over and over again he would say, “Babe, trust me, you are eating that all wrong. You have to try it charred on the outside and pink in the middle. It will change your life."

He was so dramatic, and almost offended that I wouldn't eat steak his way, until one day, I succumbed. And I will admit Jorge was right! What a difference. The meat was melt-in-your-mouth soft, yet crunchy on the outside. I have never looked back, and on the grounds of that first taste, I long for more.

And when I accepted Jesus' invitation and discovered He outrageous love for me, the peace He so freely gives, the joy He fills me with, the answered prayers He blesses me with, and the wisdom He provides so I can live the best life possible and love my family well– on the grounds of those first tastes of His magnificence…I LONG FOR MORE AND MORE OF HIM.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, Glory to Your name. Thank You for this open invitation to continually taste and see Your goodness.  We have all tasted and seen Your goodness, but we want more.  We want to be filled with You until it overflows onto everyone around us!  In Jesus' name, AMEN~

Got Jesus?

There is an ugly rumor that has been going around for years and years that I drank milk from a bottle until I was 19, but the bigger truth is that I just enjoy drinking milk.  I have some nearly every single day, and I prefer it over any other beverage on the planet.  Those who know me know that I have been known to chug straight out of the gallon, so they avoid drinking milk at my house at all costs.  And whenever I get to the last remaining sips when I have finished my meal, Jorge knows I consider this to be one of the greatest pleasures of life, and he will not say a word until the last drop is gone.

Therefore, I absolutely fell in love with the campaign “Got milk?”  Remember the early commercials where someone would have a mouth full of cookies with nothing to wash them down with and would ask, “Got milk?”  It always made my mouth water. Brilliant!

But then something even better came along: “Got Jesus?”  

Yep, someone in the Christian community jumped on the bandwagon of asking really important questions and asked the most important one of all.   

Many folks don’t care for milk, and maybe the worst of it for them will be weaker bones.  No biggie compared to those who do not have Christ; they are rejecting life itself. 

1 John 5:11-12 “God gave us eternal life; the life is in His Son. So, whoever has the Son, has life; whoever rejects the Son, rejects life.”

Notice how eternal life is not given to the whole world or an entire community.  It is given out on an individual basis, soul by soul, to those who choose Him. 

In that case, I “got Jesus”; rejecting Him is simply not an option.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, we choose You, and we choose life.  Bless our souls, in Jesus’ name, AMEN~  

Happy Days~

Greetings,

1 Peter 3:10-12 “Whoever wants to embrace life and see the day fill up with good, Here's what you do: Say nothing evil or hurtful; Snub evil and cultivate good; run after peace for all you're worth.  God looks on all this with approval, listening and responding well to what He's asked.”

When Hormone and Rayray were little they would eagerly come home and show me a good grade or drawing and then wait with excitement as I posted it on the fridge with a magnet.  To this day I have a box where I have hoarded all their macaroni creations and colored pencil masterpieces.   My favorite pictures of all time are the self-portraits they each made in first grade.  Those are framed in my home office, and I still love looking at them.  The important things is that my kids craved my approval, and I dispensed it regularly and enthusiastically! 

Do we, as God’s precious children, crave His approval?  We should, and the passage above explains why.  When He approves of us, He listens and responds well to what we ask Him to do.

How do we get His approval?  By saying nothing hurtful, by snubbing evil, cultivating good, and running hard after peace.  Doing all this will activate God’s goodness in our lives, and our days will fill up with joy as a result.

What is more important to us? Saying something evil or hurtful, or living a full life and enjoying  happy days?  Is cultivating bad worth it, or is being well-satisfied with life a better option?  Should we run away from peace or run to it and have a life we can love?

Well if you put it that way, I choose a lovely life, happy days, an overflow of goodness, and God Himself responding well to my requests because I am doing the things He has asked. 

Children who receive their parent’s approval feel emotionally stable, and they grow up to be confident, well-adjusted adults.  When we as God’s children receive His approval, we will receive something awesome as well: Answered prayer and our days filled up with good!

PRAYER: Dear Lord, We confess that sometimes we say and do hurtful things and run away from peace.  We do it because we are hurt and upset and want to get even.  But, there is a better way – a way that leads to a better life and answered prayer from You.  Your approval matters to us; help us follow Your word, and thank You that there are so many blessings for doing things Your way.  In Jesus’ name, AMEN! 

He Heart Went Out to Her~

This DEVO was initially published in September 2013. Blessings~

Luke 7:11-14 “Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and His disciples and a large crowd went along with Him.  As He approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her.  When the Lord saw her, His heart went out to her and he said, ‘Don’t cry.’”

Recently my three nephews, ages one, three, and nine and my niece, age 11, spent the night.  Rayray was still living at home, her fiancé was hovering nearby, Hormone and my lovely daughter-in-law dropped by for a visit, my brother was also present as he was temporarily living with me, and Jorge, of course, the magnificent patriarch of our little family, was there too, and well, it was a little chaotic. 

My phone may or may not have rung; I’m not sure.  I can’t recall what, if anything was on the TV.   Somehow diapers were changed, and I am pretty sure I fed the kids at least once.  Poor things!  At one point we were playing with a large rubber spider, and I meant to hurl it at Jorge, but my aim stinks, and I hit the baby square in the head.  He didn’t even cry. (Do not tell his parents).  I was surrounded by 10 people, hardly a large crowd, but I could barely keep up. 

But notice how a large crowd was with Christ, and yet He “saw her.”

None of us should ever feel that Jesus has more important things to do than to address our needs.  You are the most important thing to Him, and even though it is a mystery, He focuses on each and every one of us as though we were the only ones in the crowd. 

I like to be seen every now and again.  I like to know that I matter.  That someone has noticed me.  That someone is thinking about me.  That I am significant.  That I am special. 

Our spouses, family, and friends provide a lot of the affirmation we need, but sometimes it’s not enough.  A large crowd was with the widow as well.  No doubt they were grieving with her and trying to comfort her.  But she needed more.  She needed Jesus Himself to see her pain and reach out to her, and He did. His heart always makes a beeline for those who are suffering.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, Thank You that You are never too busy to notice us.  Thank You that nothing distracts You from helping us and reaching out to us.  We are grateful for the love and support of family and friends, but it is a joy and relief to know that You see us and that Your heart goes out to us.  We receive it! In Jesus’ name, AMEN~

Thomas Made it Personal~

Greetings, blessed and loved children of God,

The Bible is our reliable guide, and every DEVO I send has at least one Bible verse to help strengthen our faith.  The last DEVO had a passage that promised us that God will never let us down, let us be pushed past our limit, and that He will always be there to help us come through it.

If only, right? Sometimes, when we are in the middle of a difficulty, we have a hard time believing.  But we are in good company.

Thomas was one of Jesus’ hand-picked disciples, and he witnessed, first hand, the miracles Christ performed. Yet, when told about Jesus’ resurrection he said, “Unless I see the nail holes in His hands, put my fingers in the nail holes, and stick my hand in His side, I won’t believe it” (John 20:25 The Message Version).”

He could have just said, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”  But no.  He was emphatic and specific and detailed as to what it would take to change his mind.  His words show there was no doubt about his doubt.  A week later, he would have to eat his words.

^“Eight days later…Jesus came through the locked doors, stood among them, and said,  ‘Peace to you.’ Then He focused His attention on Thomas. ‘Take your finger and examine My hands. Take your hand and stick it in my side. Don’t be unbelieving. Believe.’ Thomas responded, ‘My Lord and my God’” (John 20:26-28 The Message Version)!

Jesus does three very important things in this passage: (1) He focuses on Thomas. (2) He invites Thomas to do every single thing he said he needed to do to believe. (3) And He encourages Thomas to believe.

There are also three things Christ did not do: (1) He did not ignore Thomas. (2) He did not get mad at Thomas. (3) And He did not reject Thomas for failing to have faith.

The result of this meeting is that Thomas went from being slow to believe to being the first disciple to ever declare, “My Lord and my God.”  Others had said in the past that Christ was the Lord, or the King, but Thomas made it personal.  Later he would say in John 11:16, “Let's go so that we, too, can die with Jesus."

Jesus did not leave Thomas in his unbelief, and this resulted in Thomas being so strengthened in his faith that he would have done anything for Christ. Jesus will not leave us in any unbelief either.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, Thank You that You won’t take Your focus off of us even when we doubt.  You will not leave us in unbelief.  Rather, You will strengthen us because when we believe we have peace,  joy, and hope.  Like Thomas, we want to make it personal: You are our Lord! In Christ’s name, Amen~   

Three Very Powerful Promises!

With Resurrection Sunday still fresh on our minds, I want to share a story I once heard.  I 

have taken the liberty of putting my name in the story because I identify with it on a very 

personal level.

***
One day Yenisita was complaining to God that the cross she was carrying was too heavy; she felt as though at any moment she would crumble under the heaviness of it.  So many responsibilities. So many people to look out after.  So much grief to deal with.  So much disappointment, sadness, frustration.  Just so much...

All of a sudden, a bright light flooded the room, and Yenisita realized there were hundreds of thousands of crosses all over the place.  Then she heard the voice of the Lord Almighty. "My dear child, I invite you to put your cross down and pick up the one that suits you best!"

"I'll take that deal, Lord!"

Yenisita put that cross down and starting looking around.  You better believe she was looking for the tiniest, smallest, lightest cross she could find.  Finally, way over in the corner, she saw the perfect-sized cross made out of balsa wood -- one of the lightest woods in the world!  She hurried over there with such enthusiasm.  Finally, a cross she could carry.  Made just for her.

Then she heard the voice of the Lord Almighty for the second time, "Yenisita, that is the very cross you came in with!"

***

There's a mighty lesson here, people!  

"No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; He’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; He’ll always be there to help you come through it." (1 Corinthians 10:13 The Message Version)

This verse makes three very powerful promises; let us pray them over our lives.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, Thank You that You will never let me down,  thank you that You will never let me be pushed past my limit, and thank You that You will always be here, right here next to me, to help me through everything I face in this life.  Help me to always remember these powerful truths! I praise You, in Jesus' name, AMEN! 

A Personal Resurrection~

As a mom…scratch that.  As a human being who has loved her spouse, children, parents, grandparents, siblings, friends, in-laws, cousins, etc…I can not imagine, not even for a second, what it must be like to witness a crucifixion.  Much less what it must have been like for Mary, the mother of Jesus, to see her own child on that cross.  If ever there were an adequate definition for the lowest possible point to be at, that would have to be it.

It’s this lowest of lows, however, that sets the scene for the greatest comeback in the history of the universe: Christ’s resurrection.  What a powerful and encouraging reminder that just because death has occurred, it doesn’t mean it’s over. 

In the eternal sense, if we physically die, then it’s the beginning of a glorious existence in heaven.  In the meantime, we have to live this life and deal with the death of dreams, relationships, hope – even our health. 

However, according to Ephesians 1:19-20 the “immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of God’s power which He exerted when He raised Christ from death,” is “in and for us who believe.”

That same mind-blowing power that resurrected Christ is IN us and FOR us to resurrect dead areas of our lives too. 

This is profound, people.  It’s not too late, and it’s not over.  God is willing to exert His power for us. 

Think about something you have given up on. 

“I’ll never get married.”

“I’ll never have children.”

“I’ll never get out of debt.”

“I’ll never have peace.”

“I’ll never get along with my spouse.”

“I’ll never enjoy the work I do.”

"I'll never have faith."

"I'll never feel better."

Let’s stop saying never.  The immeasurable, unlimited, surpassing greatness of God’s power CAN RESURRECT ANYTHING. 

There is one condition, however, and it is that this power is reserved for those who believe.  Are you having difficulty believing?  Take heart!  Ephesians 1:18 tells us that prayer is the key. We can pray that "the eyes of our heart be enlightened to know the hope to which He has called us."

PRAYER: Dear Lord, I long for do overs and new beginnings -- especially in this area (____________________).  I need a personal resurrection, and right now as I struggle to fully comprehend the exceeding greatness of Your power for me and in me, I pray that You would enlighten my eyes to believe You with my whole heart.  You raised Christ to give me eternal life, but You also exert Your power to raise up hopeless areas of my life.  In Jesus' name, AMEN~