Can You Imagine?

Can You Imagine?

"It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. They were calling out to each other, 'Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Heaven's Armies! The whole earth is filled with his glory!' Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke." Isaiah 6:1-4

Have you ever been "nudged" by the LORD with a thought or a direction and you just had to obey? You couldn't wait another minute? Well, that happened to me during worship this morning. Singing, eyes closed, hands in the air:

"You were the Word at the beginning
One with God the Lord Most High
Your hidden glory in creation
Now revealed in You our Christ
What a beautiful Name it is
The Name of Jesus Christ my King...
You didn't want heaven without us
So Jesus, You brought heaven down
My sin was great, Your love was greater
What could separate us now?
What a beautiful Name it is
Nothing compares to this...
Death could not hold You, the veil tore before You
You silenced the boast, of sin and grave
The heavens are roaring, the praise of Your glory
For You are raised to life again..."*

"Write it down."

What?

"Write it down...Now, before you forget."

So, I pulled out my phone and quickly dashed off a note. Then returned it to my purse and resumed singing, eyes closed and hands raised.

"I cast my mind to Calvary
Where Jesus bled and died for me
I see His wounds, His hands, His feet
My Savior on that cursed tree...
His body bound and drenched in tears
They laid Him down in Joseph's tomb
The entrance sealed by heavy stone
Messiah still and all alone...
O praise the name of the Lord our God
O praise His name forevermore
For endless days we will sing Your praise
Oh Lord, oh Lord our God...
And then on the third at break of dawn
The Son of heaven rose again
O trampled death where is your sting?
The angels roar for Christ the King."**

"Write it down."

What?

"Write it down. Can you hear it?"

I pulled out my phone and typed a note. And then I heard it...

I witnessed the LORD on his throne
His train filled the temple
The seraphim called Holy, holy, holy...
The angels and all heaven roared with a thunderous sound
The Son of heaven is risen from the dead
The Son of God is welcomed home!

Can you imagine the rejoicing in heaven when Jesus rose from the tomb?
Can you imagine the rejoicing in heaven when he ascended in the clouds and came home?
Can you imagine the rejoicing when we celebrate the Marriage Supper of the Lamb?

"He shall return in robes of white
The blazing sun shall pierce the night
And I will rise among the saints
My gaze transfixed on Jesus' face...
O praise the name of the Lord our God
O praise His name forever more
For endless days we will sing Your praise
Oh Lord, oh Lord our God."**

by Marilyn Allison

*"What a Beautiful Name It Is" by Brooke Ligertwood, Ben Fielding--Hillsong Worship
**O Praise The Name" by Dean Usher, Benjamin Hastings, Marty Sampson--Hillsong Worship

Majesty

Majesty

"O LORD, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens." Psalm 8:1

Have you ever reclined on a blanket and looked up at the night sky? Are you one who has been sufficiently interested in the stars that you know them by name? Know where to look for them? Know what constellation they belong to? See the patterns laid out in the sky? 

Do you see the sun as the center of the universe? We were taught in school how our planet revolves around the sun (takes a year, right?), and how the moon orbits around us (4 weeks, right?).

I have to admit, my focus in life has not been on astronomy. I learned the facts I needed to know for my teacher, then blithely pursued another calling. Imagine my surprise when I read something I either forgot, or never learned from my teacher. The sun, moon, stars and planet earth (our solar system), are all part of the Milky Way galaxy and everything is on the move. To quote a NASA site (spaceplace.nasa.gov),

"A galaxy is a huge collection of gas, dust, and billions of stars and their solar systems. A galaxy is held together by gravity. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, also has a supermassive black hole in the middle.
When you look up at stars in the night sky, you're seeing other stars in the Milky Way. If it's really dark, far away from lights from cities and houses, you can even see the dusty bands of the Milky Way stretch across the sky.
There are many galaxies besides ours, though. There ae so many, we can't even count them all yet! The Hubble Space Telescope looked at a small patch of space for twelve days and found 10,000 galaxies, of all sizes, shapes, and colors. Some scientists think there could be as many as one hundred billion galaxies in the universe."

The NASA article goes on to relate these billions of galaxies sometimes get too close and smash into each other. Andromeda, our closest galactic neighbor, will someday bump into the Milky Way galaxy, but not to worry. It shouldn't happen for about five million years.

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis 1:1

Wow!

"When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?" Psalm 8:3

In Jon Courson's commentary on this verse he speaks to creation being the work of God's fingers. If the power to create the complex universe and hold it all together was the work of God's fingers, how much more would his arms accomplish?

"What was the work that required God's arms rather than merely His fingers? The work He did when His arms were pinned to the Cross as He bore the sins of mankind for you and for me. In other words, the work of creation was kid's stuff in comparison to the work of redemption."**

The next time disappointment, discouragement, or despair come knocking on your door, take a blanket and lie down on it in your back yard (or the beach). Look up at the night sky and let God refresh you with appreciation of his power and how he works on your behalf. 

He is mindful of you (Psalm 8:3)
He loves you with eternal love (Jeremiah 31:3)
His thoughts of you are more than you can count (Psalm 139:17-18)
He has purchased you (to praise and glorify him) (Ephesians 1:14)
He will not let you stumble (Psalm 121:3)
He watches over you while you sleep (Psalm 121:3)
He has purpose for your life (Jeremiah 29:11)
He gives you rest (Matthew 11:28)
He is your salvation (Psalm 18:2, 27:1, 62:2, John 3:16-17, 10:9, Acts 2:21, 4:12, 16:31, Romans 5:9) 
He will never leave you nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5)
He will complete his good work in you (Philippians 1:6)
He is preparing a place for you (John 14:2)
He is coming back for you (John 14:3)
He will present you without a flaw to Abba Father (Jude 24)
We will be with the Lord forever (1 Thessalonians 4:17)

Please join me in meditating on his wonderful love and majesty.

"O LORD, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!" Psalm 8:9

**Jon Courson's Application Commentary Old Testament
Volume 2:Psalms--Malachi

by Marilyn Allison

Warfare

Warfare

"For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.  For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

There’s a war. A war that is evil, unrelenting, invisible and violent. It’s a battle for your mind and Satan wants it. The enemy knows if he can get your mind, that would mean you’re throwing your white flag in the air and you’re giving up on this war. I read this statistic: the average brain has about 50,000 thoughts per day. How many of those are you taking captive to the obedience of Christ? 

Trust me when I say the Lord put it on my heart to write this blog post for a good purpose, because, as much as you may need it, I need it too. My thoughts run wild and free and that’s a dangerous thing, if I’m not taking every thought captive and giving it to God. The enemy knows our weaknesses so he will put thoughts in our minds that he knows we'll most likely give in to. We can camp out on those thoughts for hours with the result that false evidence appears real. Or, we can give it to God. It’s our choice. The LORD knows--when I camp out on thoughts--it causes me to be on an emotional roller coaster, heading into a dangerous direction of worry, doubt and insecurity.

Let me just give you some examples of how this works in our minds. Maybe you don’t think that your mind can be that powerful, but I've learned it helps me when someone gives me examples and lays it out plain and simple.

1) Have you ever looked over at your  boyfriend's/girlfriend's shoulder to see who they were texting?
2) Have you seen your friends having fun on social media and think why didn’t they invite me? Are they mad at me?
3) Have you called your boyfriend's/girlfriend's phone a hundred times because you knew they were out somewhere and thoughts of him or her cheating come to mind?
4) Have you seen someone being used for God in ministry and been so jealous that it isn’t you?
5) Have you had thoughts draw you back to those websites you used to visit? To those visual pictures that are basically now glued to your brain?

These are just some examples that have dangerous consequences if we sit and over-think every thought. If you answered yes to any of those five questions you know exactly what the outcome was and it wasn’t healthy or good.

Let’s take a look at one example from the bible, David and Bathsheba.

“It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house.” 2 Samuel 11:2-4

So, David saw her--she was very beautiful and he asked about her. At this point David’s sin was not that he saw Bathsheba. I mean, c’mon, this girl was bathing out in the open. David’s sin was in choosing to keep his focus on an alluring image of her in his mind (Psalm 119:37).

His thoughts of her led to action. Even after someone told David she was married to Uriah (one of David’s mighty men), he made up his mind to sin against God.

Why didn’t David look away? Why didn’t he run away like Joseph did when Potiphar’s wife wanted to sleep with him? He could have, but after he lusted and his thoughts ran wild, he fell into the temptation of sexual sin. If you keep reading (chapter 12:10-12), David had major consequences to this sin. Man, it breaks my heart to think, if only he had looked away he could have saved himself so much heartache and kept his intimacy with God.

Obviously, no one is perfect and we all have crazy thoughts throughout the day.  But, I’ve learned not to believe everything I think. We think--if we think it, it must be true because it’s coming from my heart. No. The word says

"our hearts are deceitful above all else, who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

and the Apostle Paul says

“For the good which I desire, I don’t do; but the evil which I don’t desire, that I practice.” Romans 17:19

As Christians we have the desire to please God and live for Him with our minds. It’s literally our choice every single day whether we’re going to believe every thought that the enemy throws at us--camp out on it and eventually act upon it--or give it to God immediately!

Here are some bible verses to take to heart and memorize to help you. Repeat them over and over when those thoughts you’re struggling with come to mind. Also, pray for your mind and have someone pray for you as well.

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." Philippians 4:8

"Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." James 1:15

"For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places." Ephesians 6:12

"So think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world." 1 Peter 1:13

I want to encourage you to be cautious about what brings forth those certain thoughts. If I’m being completely honest, I struggle with certain thoughts so I literally don’t watch any movies about love. I know there’s most likely going to be “love making” or “make out” scenes in it and it’ll trigger those thoughts. I won’t listen to lovey-dovey music because it’ll trigger thoughts of marriage and a boyfriend. I don’t want to think about them until it’s Gods perfect timing.

You know what will trigger those thoughts you’re struggling with. Take measures so that you don’t fall and camp out in those thoughts. Give them to the Lord every time!

by Jasmine Bianca

The Just God

The Just God

"I will thank the LORD because he is just; I will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High." Psalm 7:17

Does the world weary you? Do you get tired of the hateful speech that arrives in our homes by television and social media? Are you heart broken at the trends and laws being made that profess to guard the rights of all peoples but ignore righteousness?

We don't hear much about ISIS in the media these days, so we aren't seeing pictures of horrible persecutions of Christians, yet they are still happening. Evil abounds everywhere.

"What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter." Isaiah 5:20

In Psalm 7 David requested God to protect him and judge fairly between him and his enemy, referred to as "Cush the Benjamite."  Many commentators believe this reference is either to Shimei or Saul, both from the tribe of Benjamin. In 2 Samuel we see Shimei come out to curse David when he is on the run from Absalom. In effect, he throws stones and curses at David, telling him he is getting what he's deserved for taking the throne away from Saul.

"Get out of here, you murderer, you scoundrel!' he shouted at David. 'The LORD is paying you back for all the bloodshed in Saul's clan. You stole his throne, and now the LORD has given it to your son Absalom. At last you will taste some of your own medicine, for you are a murderer!" 2 Samuel 16:7-8

Have you ever been bitterly accused of some wrong doing that may or may not have been your fault? Have you been the object of gossip that tore down your reputation--caused others to question your honesty--your motives--your integrity? 

The LORD is the righteous judge. He will judge the nations. He will judge our enemies. He will judge...us. He will not let sin go unpunished--ever.

When we believed God loved the world and sent his Son into the world to save and not condemn mankind (John 3:16-21) our sin was judged at the cross. We received mercy and the grace of his forgiveness. When we stand before God in eternity, we will stand before the Bema Seat where Jesus will reward us for those things in our lives that have pleased God.

In Psalm 7 David pleads with God to end the evil of those who are wicked. He sees God's enemies conceive evil and make trouble for others. Often in Scripture we see the evil plans of the wicked backfire on them.

When we are reeling from something in our lives that seems unfair, we have two options. One is to ask God if we've done anything wrong to bring on discipline and, if so, repent of it quickly. Then, we need to pray for the source of our discomfort. This option, I believe, frees us from carrying the burden of continued hurt and allows us to heal.

The second option may be to ask God to judge our tormenters--as David once said, "break their teeth in their mouth." (Psalm 58:6) That may bring a measure of satisfaction temporarily, but does it bring peace in the long run?

Those who walk in darkness and plan evil will have their day of judgement. They will stand before God at his great white throne of judgement without hope. The righteousness of God demands justice. Do we really want them to reside in eternal anguish in the lake of fire? God tells us to love our enemies and that means to pray for God to have mercy on them and change their hearts.

"Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven..." Matthew 5:43-45a

We can be thankful our holy God will judge everyone in righteousness. He is just.  Praise his holy name.

by Marilyn Allison

Embrace the Cross

Embrace the Cross

"Then said Jesus unto his disciples, 'If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." Matthew 16:24-25

Shortly after the Lord gave me these verses from Matthew as a type of “motto” for both the Christian life and daily ministry, he began to speak to my heart in greater depth about the profundity of the meaning behind this passage.

Jesus’ exact words to us were, “Pick up your cross.” When we look to the Scriptures, we're able to see that Jesus did this both figuratively and literally.

The night before our Lord was to be crucified, he was met in the Garden of Gethsemane with a burden he had to bear. As Jesus prayed to the Father in the Garden, we are able to see that he was overcome with unfathomable amounts of fear and stress. However, through this, his prayer and heart attitude remained, “Not my will, but yours be done.”

Jesus had an unimaginably heavy cross to bear. Still, he willingly accepted it and picked it up. Despite the fact that it was in his power to discard this burdensome cross in order to seek out another of lesser weight, Jesus still picked up the cross out of love for his Father and love for each of us. Figuratively, Jesus was given a cross to bear, and he bore it incredibly well.

Less than a day after praying that prayer in the Garden, Jesus met with yet another cross to carry. This time, the cross was tangible and could be physically borne. The trek to Golgotha was long and cumbersome. Jesus could have easily used his power to throw the cross to the ground and seek a more comfortable path, but he didn’t. Instead, he continued his walk with the cross on his shoulders. Along the way, he needed help carrying the heavy load, and help from the Father was provided. But, this did not prevent Jesus in any way from continuing on in the task that the Father had placed before him. The Savior pressed on in his walk and chose to bear his cross while doing so.

As I pondered these two examples of Jesus picking up his cross, I came to realize that in both situations he did not merely take a cross into his hands and continue on in his journey. No, Jesus fully embraced the cross that was given to him and he obediently pressed on in the calling that the Father had set before him.

A cross has been set before each of us. It seems that far too often we do not obey the Lord's instructions to fully pick it up. It would appear that many of us are unsatisfied with the crosses we have been given, so we seek other ones to bear. The cross that the Lord is asking us to take up might not be as pretty as someone else’s cross, or it may be heavier than we like it to be. But, it’s the cross that God has given us to bear, and to not embrace it would be to disobey the Lord.

Some of us are not willing to take hold of the crosses before us, while others are. Sometimes, although we are willing to take hold of our crosses, we are dragging them around with us—we are not fully embracing them. You may be willing to accept what God has for you, but are you willing to dive completely in and give him your all?

Christ calls us to pick up our crosses and follow him, but the fulfillment of this commandment requires one-hundred percent dedication. Ninety-nine percent of our obedience looks almost perfect, but that one percent hinders us from being true disciples. Touching our crosses or even holding them in our hands is not enough—we have to pick them up and embrace them.

We call ourselves Christians, and the very definition of that word is “a little Christ” or “a follower of Christ”. If we are to be true followers, then we need to completely obey what he asks of us. What better way to do this than to look to the example Jesus Christ set for us? When Jesus had a cross to bear, he bore it in full and he embraced it with a heart of obedience.

Each of us has a cross to bear, and each of our crosses look different. Some of us may bear crosses that resemble delicate pendants, while some of us may bear crosses that resemble burdensome timber. Regardless of how beautiful or miserable your cross may be and regardless of how heavy or light your load to carry, my hope is that you would fully embrace all that Christ has for you.

Fear or stress could have kept Jesus from embracing his Cross in the Garden, but he didn't let it. Difficulty or pain could have kept the Lord from carrying his cross to Calvary, but he didn't let it. __(fill in the blank)__ could keep you from embracing the cross set before you, but please do not let it.

As I daily serve the Lord in ministry, I want to be all in with him. I don't want to give the Savior of the world ninety-nine percent. I want to give him my all.

Carrying a cross is not always easy. It is what the followers of Christ have been called to do, so I want to do it with a heart that is committed to full obedience and full dedication. I'm sure your cross differs from mine. I'm also sure we have different burdens to carry. I hope that--through it all--both of our hearts will always seek to fully follow after Jesus Christ and completely embrace the crosses set before us.

by Elli Jejeran, CCEA Missionary to Romania