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And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Matthew 10:30
Think for a moment of the person you love more than anyone else in this world. Get a good picture in your mind. Take a few minutes to gaze (in your minds eye) on every one of their features. Focus on the reasons you fell in love.
One suggestion as your doing this. It might be a good idea NOT to do this when you are in the presence of this person. You may find yourself staring at them and freaking them out!
Now, how many hairs are there on your loved ones head? What? You don’t know? Are you thinking I’m the one that’s crazy? Well then, you must not love that person.
Now your probably angry with me. Of course you love them, you are thinking. Your maybe tempted to shout “You have no right telling me that I do or don’t love _______! And you’d be right.
But here’s my point. When you love someone, really, really love them you know everything you can about them. You know their likes and dislikes. You know that makes them scared and what gives them comfort. You even sacrifice your own comfort to make them comfortable.
Jesus tells us that God loves us so much that he knows has the hairs on my head numbered! Imagine that for a moment. It doesn’t just say he knows how many there are. He can point at a hair on my head and say, “Hair number 2,368 is looking a bit frayed today!”.
Now, if God is that familiar with me; if he loves me that much. What do I have to worry about? I like the way Max Lucado says it in his book “A Gentle Thunder”.
“If God had a refrigerator, my picture would be on it. If he had a wallet, my photo would be in it. He sends me flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning. When I want to talk, he’ll listen. He could have chosen any place in the universe, but he chose my heart.”
I know I make mistakes. Some days I make more than others. I know I’ll hurt people along the way unintentionally because I tend to be a social klutz at times. There are times when even my closest friends don’t understand my feelings, my fears and the things that make me happy. There are times I don’t even understand me! But my Father does. He even has the hairs on my head numbered.
PRAYER: Father God, I thank you for your love. There are things coming my way I don’t understand. Some of them scare me to no end. I thank you that in the turmoil that surrounds me you see me. I don’t get lost in the shuffle. You aren’t distracted from my problems because you are needed elsewhere. Thank you that I’m your number one priority today. Help me to be constantly aware of your presence, love and protection. In Jesus name, Amen.
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. Romans 8:14 (NLT)
What does a person who is being led by the Spirit of God look like? To some he/she is a person who exhibits certain external gifts. To others a person led by God’s Spirit is someone who avoids certain places, words or activities. Some will try to put limitations on how the Spirit works in our day, thus limiting his power to express himself freely.
Spirit led people don’t worship in a particular way. They can worship quietly and solemnly or actively and loudly. Spirit led isn’t an action. Spirit led is an attitude of heart. When we decide how God’s Spirit leads us, it’s our spirit we are following not God’s. When that happens we limit God’s power to our own understanding and our own limitations.
Jesus says that the Spirit of God is one that will lead us to an understanding of what God is like. So to answer the question about what a Spirit-led person looks like we need to answer the question, “What does God look like?” The answer to that question, in my opinion is: “How do you describe God?” His word says that each of us is created in his image. Do we all look alike? NO! Do we all act alike? Definitely not! Do we all have the same likes & dislikes? Ridiculous. God didn’t create robots. We weren’t stamped from the same mold.
So then, Spirit-led people are people who exhibit best what God has made them to be. The Spirit of God empowers us to live to the fullest potential God intended for us. As Max Lucado says in his book “When God Whispers Your Name”, the Holy Spirit helps us in three directions-inwardly (by granting us the gifts of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-24), upwardly by praying for us (Romans 8:26), and outwardly by pouring God’s love into us (Romans 5:5.
The Spirit-led person then, isn’t defined by a particular style of worship songs and actions. He’s not defined by a particular spiritual gift (or the lack thereof). He isn’t defined by the name of the church he attends. The spirit-led person exhibits the image of God in their lives through their thoughts, their words and their actions.
My God, Jehovah God is a God of passion. He’s a God of creativity and diversity. He shows himself in the power of the severe storm with thunder and lightning. He shows himself in the silence of falling snow.
He shows his creativity in the sunrise and sunset and in the birth of a new-born child. My God, Jehovah God isn’t bound by the limitations of time or human nature. Nor is he affected by the decisions of political regimes or religious dogmas.
Because I am human and Jehovah God has given me free will, I will, at times, fail to live by the power his Spirit has given me. But because of Jesus I can be forgiven if I repent of my sin. I can brush off the dirt from my falling, be healed by Jesus blood, and continue on because of His mercy and grace.
PRAYER: Father God. I praise you for your creativity and passion. I thank you that even though I stumble and fall, and sometimes I fail miserably, you are always there to forgive me, and help me back to my feet. I pray that you would empower me live according to your Spirit and not the interpretations of man. May others see you in my actions, words and attitude. In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28
As Jesus traveled along the dusty paths and streets of Israel he met many people from many walks of life. Some, like the woman at the well who had been divorced five times and the woman caught in adultery were struggled with emotional issues, feeling the guilt, shame and embarrassment of failure.
Others had more physical issues. The blind, the lame, the leprous suffered daily in a world of pain and darkness. Socially outcast and physically in pain they lived a life of pain and misery.
Then there were those who marveled at his teaching. For their entire lives they had been held captive by a religion which offered no hope. Strict rules and empty hope were just another irrelevant part of the journey they called life. It was a religion built on guilt, shame and fear.
Then Jesus came along. He offered rest to those who struggled with relationships. Don’t think for a minute that kids didn’t rebel back then. Pornography and lust were different then, but not non-existent. Feelings of failure and desperation were just as real then as they are today in your life.
One would think that the people who saw the miracles would follow. You’d expect that every person healed and all their families would give up everything to become his disciples. Some did. Most didn’t. In fact the very people he offered rest to from their physical and emotional trials were the ones who shouted ‘Crucify Him!’
Seems outlandish doesn’t it? Then again, maybe not. Over 2000 years later we are still doing the same thing. Jesus offers us hope. He offers us emotional healing. When he doesn’t offer physical healing he offers us strength to endure the pain. But people still seek religion over relationship; rules over freedom; death (spiritually due to sin) over life.
There is no religion on earth that offers us the things that Jesus does through a relationship with him. All he asks is that he be the only source of your praise, worship and love. Friends will mislead you. Religion will use you. Only Jesus gives you rest.
The hard truth is, as in any love relationship, you can’t experience the total joy Jesus offers without total commitment. Darkness has no place with light. Sin has no place in the life of a Christ-follower. Can you be forgiven? Yes. Can you live comfortably (physically)? Sometimes. But you won’t experience the total joy and peace Jesus offers until you come to him, only him, for rest.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I confess to you that there are so many times I seek pleasure, peace and comfort from things and people rather than you. My focus shifts from the eternal to the temporal. I want, so I go after it even if I know it will hurt my relationship with you. Forgive me for my refusal to sell-out to you completely. Empower me by you Holy Spirit to live completely for you. In your name I pray, Amen.
For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. Luke 22:27
When natural disasters strike we are drawn to the people who give of themselves to help the victims. Movie stars, athletes and other celebrities are held in high esteem for the sacrificial work they have done to help humanity. Those who don’t have much money, but have a passion for a particular cause will join together for marches and walks and vigils to bring attention to the victims of disease or some other calamity in hopes that their cause will be noticed by those who can help in even the smallest way.
I’m in no way minimizing the efforts of these people. They are to be applauded for their work. Some have given their own lives so that others can live and that is a noble gesture indeed. However, the one factor in all these efforts that has to happen for them to be effective is that success comes from gaining public awareness. As good of intentions as these heroes of society have, their work would not be as effective if no one notices. In fact, celebrities are sought out to sponsor a cause for that very reason.
That’s what makes Jesus’ teaching even more astounding. In the hot, dusty streets and paths of Israel, no one was less recognized than the servant who washed people’s feet. It was the dirtiest and lowest job anyone could have. The servant delegated to foot-washing was noticed more if he/she wasn’t there than for the job they did. Never a thank-you. No tips. No appreciation or recognition of any kind. If you were a foot-washer it was unlikely that anyone at Wal-Mart would stop you in the aisle and say, “Remember me? You washed my feet last week. Thank you so much!” That wasn’t going to happen. Ever. Period.
Jesus used the example of washing feet for basic reasons. First of all, he did that to show me how important I am to him. That person with the towel around his waist, kneeling before me on a hot, dusty day, to wash my smelly, calloused, crusty feet was the creator of the universe! He was the one that hung the stars in place. He was the one that created the wonder we call conception and birth. He was the one who formed the massive mountains and the fruitful plain and filled the massive ocean. Then he turned around and place hundreds of thousands of life forms in them. Yet there he was washing my feet. To the King of Kings and Lord of Lords I am held in higher esteem than he holds himself.
A second reason Jesus kneels before me is to show me how to treat others. True heroes do the little things that make others, who deserve it the least, feel like kings! As you go through the journey of life, you may come in contact with hundreds of people who largely go unnoticed for the things they do. The clerk at the gas station. The barista at Starbucks. The greeter at Wal-Mart. The list goes on and on.
So ask yourself this question. At the end of the day, have the people you come in contact with left your presence feeling like a king or a servant?
PRAYER: Dear Jesus. The visual of you kneeling before me to wash my feet is humbling. The fact that you would think so much of me that you lowered yourself to that leaves me without words. I ask that you would empower me with your Holy Spirit to see the unnoticed in my daily walk. Help me leave them feeling like kings, just as you see me. In your name I pray, Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 