Fearless

‘I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more.But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority* to cast into hell.* Yes, I tell you, fear him!  Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight.But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows. ‘And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God;but whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God. And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how* you are to defend yourselves or what you are to say;for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say. (Luke 12:4-12 NRSV)

“The only thing we have to fear is, fear itself!” Wonderful words spoken by Martin Luther King Jr. We do not have to fear anything because we have God on our side.

Why should we fear anyone or anything on this earth? Even the powers of darkness can do nothing but kill your body. Jesus has conquered death and you will see a resurrection like His so why should you fear death of your mortal body? Fear has no place in our lives. We need to boldly go and proclaim the name of Jesus everywhere we go.

And do not fear what you are to say, because when you need words the Holy Spirit will give them to you! So have no fear and boldly go into the world and proclaim the love you have been given, the love that is there for everyone to partake of!

Suffer…

“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.“‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’ (Revelation 2:8-11, ESV)

Do not fear what you are about to suffer, but be faithful unto death. Christ has called us, and knows us.

He knows those who are rich in wealth yet poor in their understanding of how much they lack in there wealth. And He knows of the slander of those who claim to follow Him but really do their own bidding.

You see the gathering in Smyrna is no longer there as are many other gatherings. We do not exist as a gathering of believers for our own good, but for the transmitting of the gospel. If we are not willing to go through the suffering we will face because of this, then we should re-evaluate our place in the missiona nd who we are really serving.

A Picture of Peace…

There once was a King who offered a prize to the artist who would paint the best picture of peace. Many artists tried. The King looked at all the pictures, but there were only two he really liked, and he had to choose between them.

One picture was of a calm lake. The lake was a perfect mirror for the peaceful towering mountains all around it. Overhead was a blue sky with fluffy white clouds. All who saw this picture thought that it was a perfect picture of peace.

The second picture had mountains, too. But these were rugged and bare. Above was an angry sky from which rain fell, and in which lightning played. Down the side of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall. This did not look peaceful at all. But when the King looked further, he saw behind the waterfall a tiny bush growing in a crack in the rock. In the plant a mother bird had built her nest. There, in the midst of the rush of angry water, sat the mother bird on her nest… a picture of perfect peace.

Which picture won the prize? The King chose the second picture. Why? “Because,” explained the King, “peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. Peace means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your spirit. That is the real meaning of peace.”

Author Unknown

Fear not!

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last,  and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.  Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.  As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. (Revelation 1:17-20 ESV)

Do you fear anything in life? (If you answered no, please comment because I would like to speak with you about how you do this…)

There are things in life that make us fear or worry… But does worrying about something really help the situation? Does it make you feel better to work through every scenario that could happen, with all of the bad details they contain? We fear things we do not know.

But here is the thing to think about. If a dog sees it’s master go through a door, then it is shut, the dog will try to get into that door and will leap through the door when it is open, why? Not because the dog knows what is on the other side of the door, it doesn’t completely know, but it does know that it’s master is there.

And my question to you is where is your master? The one who was dead but is now alive? Is He not every where? Is He not in everything? So then what do we have to fear?

Fear Not for your master has overcome the world and holds the keys to Death and Hades in His hands, and is always with you, and every where you can go.

Closed door revolution

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors to the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:19-31 NRSV)

Did they get it?

The 10 disciples were in a room with the doors locked. They were afraid they were going to get the same sentence as their master, death…

And why shouldn’t they worry? I mean all Jesus did was love the unloved. All Jesus did was show the last, lost, least, little the time of day and help them see they are actually there and deserved attention.

But do we get it either? I mean they have a reason because they were part of a revolution…

But did they get it? The doors were locked. Jesus came in and gave them peace. But since Thomas wasn’t there they obviously all did not get it. You see a whole week later, Jesus returns to the same upper room, doors still closed and there they all are. And again Jesus gets through the closed doors and gives them peace.

I don’t think we should give ourselves a hard time for being slow, when the disciples didn’t get it quickly. But something did happen. The doors were locked the first week, then the next week they were closed, but it didn’t say they were locked. They were still working it through but they made it from locked to closed…

So we are also like the disciples. Slow but moving where we need to be. And also like the disciples we are part of a revelation. Jesus sent the disciples as He was sent, just as we are sent.

So go and be a part of the revolution of love, knowing that Jesus goes with you.

seeing isn’t believing…

As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. (Luke 24:36-40, ESV)

Why is it when a person or angel appears to someone in the Bible the first thing they say is “Peace be with you”?

Just think about it for a moment. You are one of the 12 disciples (yes there were 12 disciples, only 11 are pictured above because one did something unmentionable, but that is a post for another day…(suffice it to say I do not believe Judas is as bad as we, or the Bible, make him out to be)) and the person you followed for 3 years, and just watched get arrested and put on trail, and murdered is now standing on front of you talking to you… What would you reaction be? I would scream like a little girl (no offense to little girls) and run as fast as I could. It would scare me until I would probably have to go and change my robes…

He gives them peace so they do not freak out. But He still knew they thought He was a ghost. So he told them to see His hands and His feet and the holes there, and to touch him, and see. But did any of them actually touch Him? If you read the next few verses in Luke, they do not.

And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them.

He eats some fish to prove that He is not a ghost. He told them to touch Him, and even after they have heard His teaching for 3 years and then seen the fruits of His teaching come back to life and stand before them they still do not hear Him or listen to Him…

Even Thomas in our readings tomorrow will get a bad rap for doubting. And Jesus told him to touch Him, but he didn’t either. (And Thomas is here in the Luke account of the story…)

So do we believe when we have not touched and seen? When the disciples could touch and see and didn’t and had a hard time believing Him when they were with Him.

This is where faith comes in, and Christ’s peace fills us and leads us to believe what He has told us is true, even when we can’t “see”.

Because “seeing isn’t believing, believing is seeing!” (Santa Clause 3)

Praise the Lord

Praise the Lord ! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord ! Praise the Lord! (Psalms 150:1-6 ESV)

Do you feel like praising the Lord all of the time?

Does everything always go the way you want them to? (If so that is a different topic but I would say that means you are not actually following God…)

I have been without a call for almost 14 months and my families financial situation has gone from bad to worse. I have had to get a day job as a pre-k teaching assistant. I love working with the kids. It is kind of an extension of my call. The thing I have not lost through all of this is my lovely wife who has supported me and my family, my wonderful girls who are a blessing from God, or my faith in my savior who I know is always by me and with me.

So I can  say, I have not always wanted or felt like my situation had me in a mood to praise, but I have always praised my God with every breath of my life. Because without Him I truly am nothing and lost forever. But with God I can withstand anything this world will throw at me!

So in everything you do praise the Lord!