Monday, May 1, 2023

Come Buy and Eat Without Money and Without Cost

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost” (Isaiah 55:1)



How does one buy something without money

How does one obtain something without cost



One cannot purchase something without money or cost


Especially when it comes to obtaining salvation

The forgiveness of our sins


Except


When Christ is that Commodity


Christ’s blood on the cross is 

The cost

The payment

For all of our sins



When Jesus gave up His last breath on the cross and declared:

IT IS FINISHED!


All the debts of our sins have been

Canceled

Forgiven

Wiped clean



Our sins of commission and sins of omission in the 

Past

Present

Future

Are all nullified



Christ our Deliverer

Christ our Savior


He has done it all

On the cruel cross

As The payment for our sins



Now He calls us to Himself


Come!


Come buy spiritual food

Come buy spiritual milk

Come buy spiritual sustenance


Come buy life

Abundant life


Come to the Source of all life

Come to the Source of eternal life


Come and take

Come and eat

Come and drink 

In 

the accomplished work of Christ on the cross


Come at no cost

Come freely

Come boldly

Come confidently



Let us

Go 

to the now vacated cross

to the empty tomb



Let us 

Run 

to the Resurrected Christ



Let us

Partake of His 

Love

Goodness

Salvation

Presence


Christ with us

Emmanuel


Christ in us

Abundant

Transformed

Life 


"All Who Are Thirsty" - Brenton Brown



Monday, April 10, 2023

All Glory Honor and Power



All glory honor and power

Belong to Jesus

Our Mediator

Our Sacrificial Lamb

Our Savior


Who is

God’s Only Son

The Firstborn 

First Fruit of all creation

One with the Triune God

God Himself

God Incarnate

The Firstborn from the dead

The Soon and Coming King


Who debased Himself and was born as a baby to

Experience what we experience

The joys

Sorrows

Hardships

Difficulties 

Unfairness

Frustrations

Temptations

Annoyances

Dashed hopes

Persecutions

Restrictions

Limitations

Rejections

Tiredness

Betrayals

Hunger

Mocking

Disappointments

Misunderstandings


So He could empathize with us

As our Great High Priest


Not a God who stands far off

To take pity on us humans

But a very present

God

Immanuel

He is fully with us

Present with us

In the thick of our struggles

Through the thick and thin


Christ the Redeemer

Christ the Messiah

Christ the Savior

Christ the Comforter

Christ the Constant Companion


Christ Who suffered for us

Christ Who willingly went to the cross for us

Because He

Loves and

Sees

Us


So much so that He

Stretched out His arms

To be nailed to the cross


For us

His

Beloved


He died and paid the price of our sins

So He might gain us as His

Siblings

Co-heirs

Friends


To have us be with Him

Forever


Only His blood has the power to save us

Only His shed blood can atone for us

Only His blood is efficacious

To pay for our sins


Only Christ

God’s Son


Can reconcile us with God


Only Jesus


Praise

Praise to the Messiah

Who paid the price for us


Who is now

Seated at the right hand of God


High and lifted up

Magnified 

Glorified

Exalted


All glory

All honor

All power


Belong to Him

And Him alone


We join the Four Living Creatures

We join the 24 Elders

We join all the Angels

We join all creation

In continual chorus of


HALLELUJAHS


Giving Him all the 

GLORY

HONOR

POWER

Due Him!



"Forever" by Kari Jobe




Wednesday, March 29, 2023

 Replacing Our Core Beliefs


Before we had words

Our unconscious recorded our experiences

We embraced our experiences as reality

Believing that our life will continue 

To be 

Just how we experienced it…

before we had words


For before we had words

We operated out of emotions


Once we have words

We become conscious of our

Emotions

Feelings

Experiences


We begin to make sense 

Of our experiences

Feelings

Emotions


Nonetheless 


What we experienced during our primal years

Have taken root

Deep in our unconscious

And have become our

Core Beliefs


Our unconscious continues to seek out

Experiences

Feelings

Emotions 

That feel familiar


Relentlessly we grab on to them

To reinforce our expectations toward life


Regardless of our present situation

Regardless of our new experiences

Regardless of our new realities


We are convinced

However we experienced life way back then

Will continue to prove to be true 

In the days and years to come

For the rest of our life



Our unconscious is like an industrial-sized magnet

Scanning for 

Any and every

Vestige of what would prove to us

That our Core Beliefs

Are true and real

In perpetuity



How do we overcome our Core Beliefs?



With much mourning and grieving 

Of our experiences


Putting into words our experiences

To make what is in our unconscious

Conscious


We begin to understand our Core Beliefs

What formed and shaped them



We then replace our Core Beliefs

With reality 

In the here and now


The new creation that we are

In Christ Jesus


Getting rid of the old wineskin

Shedding our past

Renewing our minds

With God’s truths


That we are 

Loved

Desired

Wanted

Cherished 


By God

Our Maker

The Author of our life

Who saw our unformed body

Before the foundation of the world was set

Who knit us together 

In our mother’s womb


He was with us from the beginning

Has been with us each and every day

He is with us in the here and now

And He will be with us 

In perpetuity


Christ the First Born of creation

Christ Who has gone before us

Christ Who suffered for us

Christ Who died for us

Christ Who resurrected from the dead

Christ Who is now at the right hand of God

Interceding for us


We have a new beginning

We are new creation



Our Core Beliefs be gone


Let us embrace 

Our new identity

Our new reality

Our new life

Our new wine skin


For all the old has passed away

Behold we are now made new


Embrace how God views us

Anticipate what He will unfold in our life

His good and perfect will for us

Our new life of

Love

Hope

Joy

Shalom

Purpose


Saturday, March 25, 2023

 God Performs His Miracles…Through Us


Christ calls us to serve Him at all times

When we are filled with excitement

When we are filled with the Spirit 

When we are filled with energy

When we feel capable

When we feel useful


When we are exhausted

When we feel depleted

When we feel defeated

When we feel drained

When we feel empty

When we feel dry


When we have nothing left to give

When we desperately need a respite

Needing to stop

Needing to rest


The 12 disciples just returned from a short term mission

They were looking forward to getting away with Jesus to rest 


They were faced with the needs of the 5,000


There were only five loaves of bread and two fish

They were tapped out

They were exhausted

Depleted


Jesus performed the miracle of multiplying the bread and the fish

He had the disciples distribute His provisions

Together they fed the 5,000


Sometimes after a successful mission

We are in desperate need of rest

We are just plain tapped out


But people’s needs don’t end

They still come to us for help


Sometimes Christ calls us to give more

To stretch us even when we are exhausted


But then He shows up

He performs the miracle

He meets each need


We participate by distributing His provisions

We are His hands and feet 

The instruments

of His miracles


Yes we are tapped out

But He does the work

We don’t have to perform the miracle

We only get to distribute His provisions


Afterall It is all about Him 

He sees the needs

He meets the needs


Through us


Whether full of vigor

Or even when we are exhausted


Monday, March 6, 2023

Hallowed Be God’s Name


Jesus taught us to pray:

“Hallowed be Your Name”


Our lives are to demonstrate God’s Name as

Holy

Sacred

Revered

Honored


Whatever we do

Whether in word or deed

We are to do in the Name of Jesus

So that God’s Name is esteemed before others


When we act as God’s hands and feet


When we consider others above ourselves

When we lay our lives down for others

When we give generously to others

When we walk alongside others

When we rejoice with others

When we cry with others

When we listen to others

When we comfort others

When we encourage others

When we forgive one another

When we submit to one another

When we bear with one another in love

When we are reconciled to one another


When the life we live with others demonstrates God’s 

Joy

Love 

Heart

Holiness

Forgiveness


God’s Name is lifted up

God’s Name is glorified

God’s Name is revered

God’s Name is honored


God’s Name is Hallowed 


Monday, January 30, 2023

Love the Lord with All of Who We Are

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30)



We are to love the Lord our God with

All of our 

Heart

Soul

Mind

Strength



Heart is the seat of our affections

To love God with all of our 

Tenderness

Fondness

Longing

Passion

Desire


Soul is the core of who we are

The attributes that make us unique

It is the most vulnerable part of us

It is the deepest aspects of us


Mind encompasses our

Perspectives

Paradigm

Mindset

Thoughts

Volition

Priorities


Strength is the physical actions we take

The outward behaviors others see


Dictated by our mind

Informed by our soul

Generated from our heart


To love God with all of our

Heart

Soul

Mind

Strength


Is to love God

Exclusively

Having Him as our deepest love

Our top priority


With all of who we are

With the depth of who we are

With all of our vulnerabilities

No holds barred


Filling our minds with His truths

Believing only in Him

Relying only on Him


Taking off our old self and its practices

Getting rid of the old wine skins

Procuring new wine skins

Putting on our new self 

Which is being renewed in the image of its Creator


How are you loving God today

Through the expressions of your 

Heart

Soul

Mind

and Strength





Monday, January 16, 2023

Faith Produces Hope



Faith and hope are intricately connected


One’s hope needs to be anchored in someone or something

Or our hope is just magical thinking


When our faith is in the Author of life

The Sovereign God

Who holds all things in His hands

Who holds us in His palms


We have hope


The more we grow in our faith

In our Living God

Who holds our 

Yesterdays

Today

Tomorrow

Forever

In His all powerful

All loving

Hands


We have hope


Not because we wish it

Not because we desire or want it

But because of Him


For He is GOD

The Almighty

The All Knowing

The Always Present 

The Always Loving One


For we know Whom we believe

That He is faithful even when we are faithless

For He is unable to lie

Nor give us false hopes

Nor spout false promises


We know He is able to

Deliver His promises


In spite our circumstances

Trials

Temptations

Testing


Even our doubts

and faithlessness

Or hopelessness


For He is God not a human

That He should lie

Not a human being

That He should change His mind


For when He speaks

There is power


Dunamis Power

Power that of a dynamite


For His word is 

Dynamic

Active

Living


As He is a

Living

Active 

All Powerful God


Because of Whom God is

We have faith

Faith in Him

Faith in His word


We have hope


Hope that does not disappoint

Because the love God has been poured out within our hearts

Through the Holy Spirit Who was given to us


We have hope


Want to grow in hope?

Grow in the knowledge of God 

Grow in the knowledge of His love

Grow in faith


Our hope will grow