right path

Truly, O people in Zion, inhabitants of Jerusalem, you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when he hears it, he will answer you. Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’ Then you will defile your silver-covered idols and your gold-plated images. You will scatter them like filthy rags; you will say to them, ‘Away with you!’ He will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and grain, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. On that day your cattle will graze in broad pastures; and the oxen and donkeys that till the ground will eat silage, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. On every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water—on a day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. Moreover, the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, like the light of seven days, on the day when the Lord binds up the injuries of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow. (Isaiah 30:19-26, NRSV)

There will be no more weeping, for the Lord will be gracious at the sound of your cry and will hear you and heal you. He will set you back on the right path…

When we cry out to God He will hear us and make the path before us the clear path that is the one He would choose for us. We will look at the idols that have been taking His space and crush them and throw them away. We will clear our hearts out of all the garbage and look to Him as He sits in the spot that is His!

He will shower us with His mercy so we grow in Him and closer to Him and will push all of the refuse out of our lives so that we are oriented to Him and walking on the right path.

So call to Him and let Him clean you and shower you with His mercy!

play a part…

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers. In those days Peter stood up among the believers (together the crowd numbered about one hundred and twenty people) and said, ‘Friends, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus— for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.’ (Acts 1:12-17, NRSV)

Peter stood among the gathered body of believers in worship and said that Judas had his share in the ministry…

Judas did his part like none of the other 11 could have…

We are all a part of the body of Christ and have a part to play. Judas had a piece to do in the ministry. Judas was a disciple who followed God, and Jesus. He led those who arrested Him to the garden that night and some would say started the process of Jesus’ crucifixion. Yet would this have happened without Judas?

Judas was led to do what he did. (we could discuss who we think it was that led him, but that would be a different blog…)

And what are you led to do?

If we can see what Peter said above, that Judas played his part in the ministry of Jesus, then we all have a part. What is your part?

Are you ready to go as far as Judas, and do what God needs you to do?

Covenant of Peace

Sing, O barren one who did not bear; burst into song and shout, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate woman will be more than the children of her that is married, says the Lord. Enlarge the site of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and to the left, and your descendants will possess the nations and will settle the desolate towns. Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed; do not be discouraged, for you will not suffer disgrace; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the disgrace of your widowhood you will remember no more. For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. For the Lord has called you like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, like the wife of a man’s youth when she is cast off, says your God. For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with great compassion I will gather you. In overflowing wrath for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you, says the Lord, your Redeemer. This is like the days of Noah to me: Just as I swore that the waters of Noah would never again go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you and will not rebuke you. For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you. (Isaiah 54:1-10, NRSV)

Has everything always gone your way?

Do you find it hard to face the day because everything seems to go against you?

Isaiah tells the barren women to sing praises! Because your children will be more than the children of her who was not barren!

Praise the Lord in your sorrow!

Isaiah tells us that we should praise the Lord at all times, because no matter what we face, nothing will remove the eternal covenant of His peace from us.

As in the days of Noah, the world was destroyed but Noah held tightly to the peace and the protection of God. He is walking with you, just as He was with Noah and his family.

Trust in the peace He can give you!

On our side

If it had not been the Lord who was on our side—let Israel now say— if it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when our enemies attacked us, then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us; then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us; then over us would have gone the raging waters. Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as prey to their teeth. We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. (Psalm 124, NRSV)

Have you ever done something and wondered, “How in the world did I do that?”

Have you ever completed something you thought was not possible for you, but not only did you do it, but it turned out to be super easy?

Like the psalmist says, “if the Lord was not on our side, when our enemies came against us they would have swallowed us up.”

It is not about us, or our power, or our ability but it is all because Jesus is walking with us and by our side.

The only reason we make it through the situations we come up against is because Jesus is walking with us!

Thank the Lord today that He is walking with you.

New Creation!

What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:1-11, NRSV)

We might no longer be enslaved to sin…

This is a huge statement. We are no longer enslaved to sin if we are in Christ. Our old self was crucified with Him and we have risen to a new life in Him and can not continue on sinning…

So how many of us still sin?

If you said you don’t that is a sin! We are all still quite alive in our flesh and so we are sinners, and sin daily. But if we have put on Christ we are also dead to the life of sin and saints of God. We are new creations and the new fights with the old creations. We are at battle with ourselves to live the life He has called us to.

It is not possible for us to live sinless lives and on our own we are completely worthless sinners, yet if we hold to the promises that He died for us. Yes He died for you when you were so far gone He could not even look upon you. If we believe that and hold to the promise of our being raised with Him in a resurrection like His, we are new creations living daily with Him, and showing forth His love to all the world!

So know you are a new creation and live so that the world see Him instead of you!