Before leaving on our recent trip to Mexico we switched to an international plan for our cell phones so we could be reached if needed. This plan would cost us $1.00 per minute for phone calls but was less expensive than renting a phone there.
Our cell service was rather spotty but one time when I was experiencing good reception I noticed that I had seven voice mails. Thinking that someone was trying to get in contact with us I called my voice mail and listened to my messages. All seven were from before we left on our trip and although I had previously listened to them, I had not cleared them, so I spent time and a few dollars listening to old messages.
That got me to thinking about how often we allow the residue of old sins, hurts and fears, messages of our old life, still grab attention in our lives. And every time we listen to them it costs us time, energy, maybe resources and certainly it can cost us peace. In John 8:36 Jesus said, “So if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
When Jesus comes into our hearts, forgives our sin, heals our hurts and takes away our fear we are set free, but too often it seems like we continue to listen to those old messages and allow them to consume our time, energy, resources and peace. When those messages beckon us, instead of answering, let’s claim the freedom that Jesus purchased for us and then go forward in our lives as we seek what Jesus is saying and doing in our lives today!
In His Grace,
Mark
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A few weeks back the footrest springs on my recliner broke and over the next couple of days I spent quite a bit of time trying to locate where I could find replacements. After what I thought was an exhaustive search online, using every combination of search terms I could think of, I finally found a place where I could buy a set a springs that were just a little longer than what I needed, so I purchased them hoping they would work.
Before installing the new springs I did an online search on how to install them and wouldn’t you know, in addition to having installation pictures, one of the recommended sites specialized in selling the exact springs I needed for my chair!
This experience brought to mind Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:7-8: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Jesus has the answer for everything in our lives and He invites us to come to Him, to be part of the process of discerning and following His will. Does that mean that all of our prayers will be answered the first time? Second? Third? No, because prayer and seeking Jesus’ will is a relationship and a process and as we persevere, seeking His face, Jesus opens our eyes to new understanding, He points us in the direction of His will, and our prayers change to reflect what He is saying to us.
No matter what needs we may have in our lives Jesus holds the answer and we can find His answer as we stay in the process of asking, seeking and knocking, as we seek His face and live our lives fully surrendered to Him.
God’s Grace and Peace,
Mark
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“Why do you look for the living among the dead? His is not here; He has risen!
Luke 24:5b-6a
He has risen; the truth of these three words forever changed the course of human history. Because Jesus died for the sins of all people and rose from the dead He has made it possible for everyone to experience His forgiveness and eternal life, which begins at the moment we invite Jesus into our heart as our Savior and Lord. And through His resurrection Jesus has made it possible for all who believe in Him to live in the fullness of His grace, mercy and love.
During the month of March, and leading up to Easter, each Sunday we will look at ways that Jesus challenged and changed the lives of the people He encountered during His 3 years of ministry on earth. And as we know, each of these are ways that He still challenges and changes us today when we give Him the freedom to work in our lives.
May the words that the early church shared to encourage each other still encourage us today: “The Lord is risen. The Lord is risen indeed!”
God’s Grace and Peace,
Mark
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“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” I Corinthians 13:13
Faith, hope and love are three of the key words in all of scripture, which is not too surprising when we consider the roles of faith, hope and love in our lives and relationship with Jesus.
Faith is believing in what we have not seen. Romans 5:1 says, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Hope is looking forward to something with confident expectation. Isaiah 40:31 tells us, “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
The Greek word for love here is agape, God’s love, an unselfish love; a love that isn’t based on our worthiness to be loved but on God’s desire to love us. In Romans 5:8 we read, “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Faith, hope and love are all key elements in our relationship with God, each is of major importance in its own right, and while everything else that seems so permanent in the world is gone, only those three things will remain. And yet, I Corinthians 13:13 tells us that the greatest is love.
The greatest is love because, as I John 4:16 tells us, “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.” Faith and hope are based on God while God is love, which truly makes love the greatest.
As we seek to grow in faith and hope, may we continually seek to know God better and be filled with more of His love, so we are able to reveal God to the people whose lives we touch.
God’s Grace and Peace,
Mark
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