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Showing posts with label Luke. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Luke. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Am I Worked up over nothing?

How often do I go about fussing? Getting worked up over nothing. Worrying about how everything is going to get done. Putting my best "servant" attitude on and letting Jesus know it. I need to get to the essential and choose it. My relationship with Jesus is the most important thing. It is the main course.

May I choose the good part. Why worry?
But the Lord answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her." Luke 10:41-42

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Expect nothing in return

Sometimes I am so very tempted to get upset with the "ungrateful". OK, truth be told, I do get upset. I succumb to the temptation. I feel justified. I blessed them and they didn't respond. I gave and they weren't thankful. I go out of my way and they don't notice. How righteous I feel. What is wrong with them? Oh my goodness. What is wrong with me? Really. I have been ungrateful to my heavenly Father. What is His response?
 
To show me mercy. To be kind. To love me. To lavish His gifts on me. To put His best clothes on me. To give me my inheritance. To prepare a feast for me. To go find an amazing ring and put it on my finger.
 
He does good, is good and is in a good mood. He doesn't get offended at all. He is God. He is stunningly great. How amazing? Amazing gifts in spite of my ungrateful heart. He is absolutely perfect.
 
May I be merciful like my heavenly Father. REALLY. My reward will be huge. I will be His son.


If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Luke 6:34-36


Sunday, May 20, 2012

They were worried, Jesus wasn't at all

Here is a lesson in worry from our Master Jesus. He wasn't worried. He wasn't anxious. He was just doing what He knew to do which was be in His Father's house. So, his parents were worried. He was not. I should be concerned about doing my Father's business and not worry about anything else. And, he continued to grow this way. Stuff just didn't faze Him because He was listening to His Heavenly Father and just doing what He heard Him saying.

May I be about my Father's business and grow in His favor. May I worry about whether I am pleasing him.

When they saw Him, they were astonished ; and His mother said to Him, "Son , why have You treated us this way ? Behold , Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You." And He said to them, "Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father's house?" But they did not understand the statement which He had made to them. And He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and He continued in subjection to them; and His mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. Luke 2:48-52


 

 

Monday, April 9, 2012

"If Tyre and Sidon had been given half the chances given you, they'd have been on their knees long ago, repenting and crying for mercy." ~Jesus

What if Jesus said this to Dallas? I can imagine it. Jesus is in our midst. He is performing great and mighty acts of God right now. Do we see it? Do we change our minds and ask for mercy?

We should. Jesus demands it.
"If Tyre and Sidon had been given half the chances given you, they'd have been on their knees long ago, repenting and crying for mercy." ~Jesus

Sunday, April 8, 2012

How puzzled would I be?

After Jesus was crucified, he was hastily buried as the clock was ticking moving toward the Sabbath. No work could be done. So they had to wait. And wait. And wait. It must have seemed like an eternity that long Saturday. On Sunday they were up and at it at the crack of dawn. When they got to the tomb, they couldn't find Jesus body. And they were puzzled. I know I would have been as well. Probably more than puzzled.

But they moved on from being puzzled into belief. The angels explained it all to them. Jesus wasn't there but raised up from the dead. And they remembered Jesus' words.

Belief. Faith. Joy.
At the crack of dawn on Sunday, the women came to the tomb carrying the burial spices they had prepared. They found the entrance stone rolled back from the tomb, so they walked in. But once inside, they couldn't find the body of the Master Jesus.

They were puzzled, wondering what to make of this. Then, out of nowhere it seemed, two men, light cascading over them, stood there. The women were awestruck and bowed down in worship. The men said, "Why are you looking for the Living One in a cemetery? He is not here, but raised up. Remember how he told you when you were still back in Galilee that he had to be handed over to sinners, be killed on a cross, and in three days rise up?" Then they remembered Jesus' words. via Luke 24 MSG | YouVersion.

Monday, February 27, 2012

Pride of His life

What an amazing day this was. Jesus goes to be baptized by his cousin, John the Baptist. His Father validates He is His son. The Holy Spirit comes down on Him.

The sign is a dove. The voice is "You are my Son." "You are chosen." "You are marked with love." "You are my pride of life."

That is our longing. We all want to know we are loved by our Father. We all want to hear He is proud of us.

We get that in His Spirit. We get that in His love. We are chosen.

How cool is that?
After all the people were baptized, Jesus was baptized. As he was praying, the sky opened up and the Holy Spirit, like a dove descending, came down on him. And along with the Spirit, a voice: "You are my Son, chosen and marked by my love, pride of my life." Luke 3:21-22

Monday, November 14, 2011

Words of strength and heart

John the Baptist was an amazing man of God. His words gave strength to people. His words put heart in them. Of course, they also offended the powerful. But John was faithful to the Message. His focus was on delivering God's message of hope. He did not focus on who he would offend in the process.

May I have his same faithfulness. May I speak words that give people strenght and heart.
There was a lot more of this—words that gave strength to the people, words that put heart in them. The Message! But Herod, the ruler, stung by John's rebuke in the matter of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, capped his long string of evil deeds with this outrage: He put John in jail. Luke 3:18-20

Friday, July 1, 2011

Possibilities

Imagine being a young woman. You are a virgin. An angel shows up and lets you know you are going to give birth to the Son of God. You ask how that can be since you are a virgin. He lets you know that the Spirit of God will make it happen AND nothing is impossible with God.

NOTHING. Not a thing. EVERYTHING is possible.This word of God has been challenging my heart and soul lately. I know I have had things I didn't believe God could do. I am leaning in to hear the word of our Father. If he says it, I can count on it. Nothing is impossible.

So here is the deal. When the Angel said nothing is impossible, Mary said, "I am the LORD's servant. May it be to me as you have said." Then a little while later Elizabeth (John the Baptist's mother) said "Happy woman, who believed what God said, believed every word would come true!"
For nothing is impossible with God. Luke 1:37

May I have faith to believe our LORD. Nothing is impossible.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Just the facts?

Luke got it right. Knowing and having supernatural courage (faith) about Jesus is what it is all about. He made it his mission to present "the facts". He investigated it down to the last detail. Imagine having been there and seen and known so many who experience Jesus. Imagine getting it right and writing about it. It is ours and we can know too. What a story. Thanks for men like Luke.
So many others have tried their hand at putting together a story of the wonderful harvest of Scripture and history that took place among us, using reports handed down by the original eyewitnesses who served this Word with their very lives. Since I have investigated all the reports in close detail, starting from the story's beginning, I decided to write it all out for you, most honorable Theophilus, so you can know beyond the shadow of a doubt the reliability of what you were taught. Luke 1:1-4

May I know beyond a shadow of a doubt about the reliability of what I have been taught.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Jerusalem

Jesus destiny was in Jerusalem. God's goal for Him would come to pass there. He would die and be raised from the dead by the amazing power of the Holy Spirit. But notice how this was framed. He took the 12 aside and clearly said "We". Jerusalem just wasn't for Jesus. The good news of the new agreement God has with us is that we have died and been raised to a new life in Him. Oh my goodness.
Then Jesus took the Twelve off to the side and said, "Listen carefully. We're on our way up to Jerusalem." Luke 18:31

May I see how I am a new human being in Him. May I know that the old me was crucified with Him and the new me was raised up in Him.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

God's world is here now

We keep looking. We think, some day we will go to heaven. We hold out hope.

We don't get it.

God's world is already here. We must live it now. We must stop looking for a day when things will get better.
Grilled by the religious leaders on when the kingdom of God would come, answered, "The kingdom of God doesn't come by counting the days on the calendar. Nor when someone says, 'Look here!' or, 'There it is!' And why? Because God's kingdom is already among you." ~~Jesus (Luke 17:20-21)

May I see God's world today. May I know it is already here.