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Only Jesus

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Only Jesus. It’s #FiveMinuteFriday and the word prompt is Only. That word just had to go with the Name above all Names…Jesus.

I am not a sports authority by any stretch of the imagination. I like baseball, but it’s slow and boring to watch. I used to like to watch basketball, when there were rules such as no traveling. Football? I can leave it any day of the week. Too violent and they never make any progress! It would drive me crazy to have ten 250 pound bodies pile on top of me to find out we had only moved two feet. Not worth it. (Okay, they do make millions of dollars so maybe some would say it is worth it.)

Sports figures, speaking generally, are overpaid and over-privileged. Some do use their fame and fortune to make this world a better place and we thank you.

Then there are those such as LeBron James, who has christened himself with the nickname, The Chosen One. He made this statement recently, “There’s only three people in this world that can score on me in the post,” LeBron said. “Shaquille O’Neal in his prime—who else was it? Oh, it’s two. And Jesus Christ.”

Now, you may argue his remark was tongue-in-cheek, and I hope it was at least that but it was still highly disrespectful and definitely insulting to Christians everywhere.

I have news for LeBron: Jesus doesn’t play basketball.

Jesus came for one purpose; to seek and to save the lost! (Luke 19:10)

  • Only Jesus can fill that empty void in your life.
  • Only Jesus can give you peace that passes all understanding.
  • Only Jesus, as the song says, can satisfy your soul!
  • Only Jesus can take everything that is wrong and make it right.
  • Only Jesus can give you favor with your co-workers, classmates, neighbors, etc.
  • Only Jesus can heal your physical body and your anxiety-ridden mind.
  • Only Jesus can save your lost loved one that you have prayed over for ten years.
  • Only Jesus can deliver from addictions.
  • Only Jesus can forgive sins.
  • And Jesus is the Only Way to heaven.

It is true; Jesus is capable of doing absolutely anything. And it is also true that He could play basketball if He really wanted to…and LeBron James would be left holding the towel. But Jesus didn’t come for superficial things; He came to save the world! He died so we might live and He empowered us with His Spirit so that we could be His hands and feet in this world.

Tell the world, Jesus is the ONLY GOD who died, rose again and is coming back for those that love Him. If you only have Jesus, and nothing else in this world, you have everything.

What would you add to the above list? Only Jesus ______________________________________________. Encourage one another with your addition!

Enjoy this song by Matt Redman, Jesus, Only Jesus.

Who can command the highest praise?
Who has the name above all names?
You stand alone, I stand amazed
Jesus, only Jesus

When Thanksgiving is Hard but God is Good

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When Thanksgiving is Hard, but God is Good. For some, this Thursday, November 23, is going to be difficult. Wondering how they are going to make it through the day with a smile on their face. Others will be fighting back tears because of empty chairs at the table. Their heart hurts, and the reasons vary but the heartache is so real. If this is you? I am praying God will give you strength that only comes from Him and that spirit-filled peace that passes our understanding. Be encouraged by the two saints of God in the following post and be blessed knowing God sees you, loves you and is with you especially when it is hard.

Francis Jane Crosby was the author of over 9,000 hymns. Do you know she wrote so many that she began using pen names so that the hymnals would not be filled with her name alone?

Beautiful hymns such as:

Blessed Assurance
Safe in the Arms of Jesus
All the Way My Savior Leads Me
Rescue the Perishing
Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross

Born in New York, Fanny was ill almost from the beginning. One day, their family’s regular doctor was out of town and another man, who claimed to be a doctor, prescribed hot mustard compresses to her eyes. She got over the sickness but the treatment left her blind.

Blindness didn’t deter her from her love of life and her love for the Word of God; she memorized scripture every day; five chapters a week.

Fanny loved poetry and wrote her first verse at the age of eight:

Fanny’s attitude kind of reminds me of someone else we know; the Apostle Paul was one acquainted with grief. He had lived through many, many persecutions. Most of them were physical.

“Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.” 2 Corinthians 11:24-28 ESV.

Wow. And we think WE are persecuted for the name of Jesus!

Drifting at sea
Stoned
Shipwrecked
Beaten
Dangerous rivers
Robbers
His own people
The Gentiles
The City
The Wilderness
False Brothers
Sleepless Nights
Hunger and Thirst
Cold and Exposure

And last, but definitely not least, he mentions the daily stress and anxiety brought on by the churches! 

Paul was under a tremendous amount of pressure. Remember, he was also blinded once on the road to Damascus. The Lord put him in that state for three whole days and his life was forever changed. Even though he regained his sight, he then saw things completely differently, through the Lord’s eyes instead of his own.

But even in the midst of the tremendous persecution, Paul found joy.

“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” Philippians 4:12 NLT.

Contentment.

Paul knew that no matter what his circumstances were he could be content. Why?

Verse 13 tells us the answer:

“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

Maybe you are feeling as if you do not have much for which to be thankful. Maybe life is not treating you kindly, or fairly, and everything seems to be upside down, like a little bug on the ground who can’t get turned back over on his feet.

God has not forsaken you. We understand that aren’t promised a life full of sunshine and blue skies, but we are promised He will go with us. Sometimes your season of need may last much, much longer than you had anticipated or had hoped for. But like Paul, and Fanny Crosby, we can always find something to be thankful for.

[Tweet “Is there breath in your lungs? Praise God! Are you in your right mind? Praise God!”]

Most importantly, do you know Jesus? I mean truly know Him? If so, you have something wonderful to be thankful for. To be in relationship with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords means we have an awesome responsibility to share this wonderful Truth with others and let our contentment be a great testimony of His keeping power.

Fanny didn’t let her inabilities or her circumstances dictate her feelings. She didn’t even pray for her sight to be restored. “Do you know that if at birth I had been able to make one petition, it would have been that I was born blind?” said the poet. “Because when I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior.”

Neither did the Apostle Paul. In everything, even in the difficulties, he found a reason to be thankful. Paul didn’t make it a practice to pray for things…he prayed that he might KNOW Him.

Grieving? Yes, it is good to grieve; it is necessary. But, in that grief, allow God to help you, strengthen you, speak peace into your heart and help you to find something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Just as the season moves on into another, this too will get easier and He will give you grace for each day as you draw closer to Him through your trial.

Enjoy this beautiful rendition of one of Fanny Crosby’s hymns by Chris Tomlin! Let it be your praise today…

 

Pattern your life after me?

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Pattern your life after me?

“Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.”  Philippians 3:17

Paul is speaking to the church in Philippi and gives quite the dissertation explaining to them his credentials first of all, and that he had the authority to even speak to them. He was a Jew by birth, but had abandoned everything in order to follow Jesus Christ.

In verses ten and eleven he says,‘That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death…”

He didn’t want to just know about Him, he wanted that personal relationship with Him.

And finally, he gets to what he wants to leave them with… “Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example.”

Paul was telling them to learn from what he had learned. Follow in his footsteps, pattern their lives after his life. Why?

  • Because Paul was following Jesus Christ.
  • He had walked where Jesus walked.
  • He had endured trials and tribulations.
  • Paul had also been
    • beaten
    • threatened
    • starved
    • imprisoned
    • lied about
    • stoned
    • and many, many other atrocities had been committed against him.

And in all of these things he had NOT wavered. He had learned to give God praise, and to endure, despite his sufferings.

“Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;  In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;

In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.” 2 Corinthians 11:24-28.

The Early Christians didn’t have the New Testament to read…no self-help books, Matthew Henry commentaries or Google search to look up hundreds and hundreds of devotions and sermons online.

But they had Paul.

He had lived through persecution after being the Persecutor! Yet, in all of those things he still continued to be faithful and his concern was for the care of the churches.

Could we say the same as Paul did? Could we assuredly tell others to, “Pattern your life after me.”? (Of course correct grammar would change my title to “Pattern your life after mine”? But then my graphic image wouldn’t rhyme!) (insert smile here).

 

A sobering thought!

We have all heard it said that we may be the only Jesus that some people ever see or the only Bible they will ever read. That is why we must be so careful the way we live our Christian lives. That doesn’t mean we walk on eggshells all the time, scared to death we are going to make mistakes.

“Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.” Matthew 5:14,15.

What it does mean is that we should be sure to spend time with the Savior. And the more time we spend with Him, the more we become like Him…the more we radiate His glory and His goodness…then others will see the Lord Jesus Christ IN us. They will want to know Him because He shines through us.

That is what Paul was talking about…pattern your life after me because I KNOW HIM!!

Kingdom2