Have you even noticed how a child will react upon seeing a shadow for the first time. It can be a little overwhelming but then they are amazed that they have a constant companion. The shadow makes every step, mimics every movement. It will skip, run or jump, and always keep up with you.
Sometimes, your shadow is tall, and sometimes shorter, and then it does appear to go away at night. But is back when you enter a room or turn on a light. I love my shadow. Jesus is my shadow, and you know what? He was overwhelming at first and I was a little amazed at my constant companion. He makes every move with me. He's always there. When I enter a room, He's a gentleman, He let's me go first, He's already been there anyway. And He's there whether I turn on a light or not.
I never knew so many of the verses I know now, like Zephaniah 3:17. He quiets me with His love. He surely does. Jesus is the best way to calm down. He is ever the Joe Cool, even in righteous anger. He is an exercise in the fruit of the Spirit, self control. And He rejoices over me with singing.
When I look back at the babies I've sung to and the children with happy faces, no wonder there was joy in their faces because He was there singing along. No wonder I like to sing even if I thought I wasn't very good. It was just me and my shadow and He loved it. And since Jesus completes us, and He is our peace, what a great shadow.
When we dwell in the secret place of the Most High, Psalm 91 says, we abide or live in the shadow of the Almighty. God doubles that promise here because He uses two names. That is something to look for when studying. He meant He was keeping this promise. Of course, the reference is to the cherubim on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant. They cast a long shadow, then, no one could enter the Holy of Holies, save the priest once a year and he had to be tied to a cord in case he fell dead having sinned. the glory of God sat on that Mercy Seat.
Jesus is our glory and He sits on the Mercy Seat of our heart as believers, in the person of the Holy Spirit, because of His sacrifice, because His shadow and beaten body hung on a cross, we can come boldly to God's throne and ask anything in His name and He will do it. That's what my shadow did for me.
You can study the Bible and see types and shadows of Jesus. Joseph was a type and shadow of Jesus. He was betrayed and sold. Isaac, he was to be a sacrifice, but was spared because God sent the lamb, it reads he asks about a ram. Jesus fulfilled the law and the prophets, Hebrews 10:1, says the law was a shadow of things to come. Jesus gave us a better covenant and better promises, by taking our place. God swore by Himself this was true.
In Matthew 22 Jesus tells of a parable about a wedding feast.
The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.
8"Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.' 10So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11"But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes.12He asked, 'How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?' The man was speechless.
14"For many are invited, but few are chosen." Let's examine the parable.
A king has prepared a wedding feast, invited guests who refused to come. When he sends out messengers to call on them they have been mistreated or killed. The king destroyed the murderers and burns the city. More servants are sent to invite anyone. One guest shows up without his wedding clothes, and is bound and thrown into the dark. We must also remember how many people have been martyred for the gospel.
Jesus is obviously the king in the story, and this is the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. He has invited everyone, from the time of the crucifixion on through until the catching away of the church, who I know some do not believe is the bride, rather Israel. Whatever you believe, the bridegroom is coming.
Personally, I do not believe it is Israel. They are not asking for Jesus to come. The church is. That said. He calls on His servants to invite everyone. They take to the street corners, highways and hedges.
In these last days, He is calling to everyone, from street corners, homeless, hapless, and helpless. He is calling all of us to beat the bushes for anyone who will believe. As Christians we need to be guests who want to go and invite as many to come with us as we can.
As to the guest who showed up not dressed for a wedding, it is someone who did not believe in Jesus as Lord, and was tossed into outer darkness. When you are truly born again, you are robed in the righteousness He purchased at the cross.
So don't just call yourself a Christian because you are not a Muslim or Jew. Or because you like a few verses, or you just like to think you're going to heaven. It doesn't work that way. I read a story of a man who thought he was good enough to get to heaven, because he'd never killed anybody, which is funny. It's good enough!
Look at the people who actually killed someone in the Bible yet became great for God. that is not the criteria. I know murderers will not enter heaven, unless truly repentant, and they may fool people but not God. I am certainly not advocating turning all murderers loose, just stating it's not enough that you're not one to save you.
According to Jesus, who take the Commandments a step further. we can by not operating in love, murder people with words, discouragement and hatred. So before you stand before God it is better to kneel in prayer. It doesn't have to be public, and neither your profession if it puts you in danger. I know this goes around the world. But there is a great need for someone to hear how much Jesus loves them and is inviting you, no matter the crimes or commandments you've broken or the words that have been spoken by you or over or about you. I will cancel these in Jesus name….
But you must believe and confess to Him, and believe He was crucified for you. Recieve His love into your heart. His peace is yours, healing , if you need it. Tell someone about Him invite someone to the wedding.
For days now I have been singing the song Crying in the Chapel, but the song can have a sadness about it. Jesus had a sadness about Him, He was a man of grief and acquainted with sorrow. Isaiah 53. When Jesus was crucified, there was no beauty about Him, marred beyond recognition, the word beauty ( hadar ) also translates honor. He was totally dishonored and shamed that we might know Him and love Him and accept salvation. He gave us eternal life.
So while I was looking for a quiet, peaceful picture of a girl crying in a chapel, shedding tears of joy. I was still singing the line, " Now, I'm happy with the Lord. " If it takes tears of sorrow, or of joy. He will wipe them away. I want to be what He wants me to be, I have certainly known sorrow, sadness and grief and I didn't realize until recently how much and that it is largely in part because of Jesus, and my faith and compassion to others, that that is true.
I was struck by the sheer beauty of this old card. Probably one of those catholic cards children get after learning catechisms or receiving Communion Look at that face, in sweet repose dreaming of those who one day would come to know Him as Lord, He embraced the cross.
As a cherubic child portrayed, against a terrible fate, He is at rest with it. Even though His humanity had to be brought into obedience even unto death, Jesus finally had a place to lay His head, where He wanted to, He had finished His earthly ministry, He was raised from the dead and ascended into heaven to sit beside His Father.
He was swaddled as a child and laid in a manger. The pictures painted of a sweet baby tucked into hay in a manger are cute. However, real mangers were hewn out of stone. He was bound tightly as a baby, something people don't do these days, it is a type of grave clothes. Laid in a stone manger, a type of tomb. Jesus was born to die, and He knew it at an early age. He embraced His destiny, but do we?
When He was agonizing on the cross, He was thinking of us. Jesus could foresee believers, He could see in the Spirit. He gives us the Holy Spirit and gifts, we can also have dreams of visions. Remember how He saw Nathaniel, before He ever approached him. He may have seen me writing this.
We, as believers, embrace the cross in a different way. We reverence it a revere it, while some revile it. Some of us identify too much with the sorrow and the agony of it, when we should rejoice at the victory of it and like Jesus endure for the joy set before us. We were crucified with Him. So shouldn't we be embracing the joy set before us. The joy He set before us. The joy of the Lord, that is our very strength. We do not have to carry a cross our whole life, Jesus did it once and for all.
Even if we take it up and follow, we can put it down at His feet, as Mary with a broken alabaster box, we can be at His feet, a shattered soul, with a broken cross that we cannot bear, because were were not meant to. We must to choose the one needful thing. We were not worthy not righteous, only He could take our place and carry the cross, be nailed to the cross, willingly die on a cross, which was not the form of Jewish execution, (stoning ) He should have been scourged or crucified but He was both, for us, for me.
I am amazed at that love, I embrace that love, my Jesus in a manger, on a cross, seated in heaven, alive in my heart, I died with Him, when I was born again. He came to glory to God and peace on earth. He is my glory and my peace. As He embraced the cross, let's embrace Jesus, in this Not About Me November.
Have you ever had to depend on Jesus? I have. In fact, I have to everyday. There is just no other way I would make it at all. I recently read a woman's story about one of her children, raised in church, suddenly deciding there was no God. She was bothered by it but the Lord told her to let him go through a day believing there wasn't one. Needless to say, he came home a changed young man.
I had to trust Him with health problems doctors could not fix. And with heart problems no one could fix. The love kind, only He knows and understands the depths of His love. And when He pours into the heart of a believer, they are changed forever.
I know we all want to be independent, free thinking, non subservient wives. We all want to be our own women, our own bosses, our own kind of beautiful. But we need to rethink that, because Jesus doesn't give us a slave mentality, we serve out of gratitude and grace. We love Him because He first loved us. 1 John 4:18.
And Jesus gives us freedom like no other, we have the Holy Spirit to guide us. We still have a free will. Often though, we are expecting too much of ourselves, too critical and demanding, too busy and way too stressed to be blessed, let Him reverse that curse. He would give us rest, and we need to take it. Say no to some things and even some people in a polite way, but a firm one.
Never having any money, I would say as a joke, that I had a trust fund. Little did I know I would be trusting Him to even buy a tube of lipstick or for a fast food run. I have had to make do many times, but His grace abounded.
Putting so much effort into blogging and praying for others has been a blessing. I have had the honor of seeing the miraculous taking place. Babies going home from the NICU, women with children overcoming life threatening cancers, and even the halt of a deadly diagnosis, just a few symptoms and flare ups and a check up, for something there is no cure for, and I see an Isaiah 53 report there too, God bless all of you who read this.
There is always fear, but not in His love. His love is a place of refuge and shelter and it is safe to dwell and remain in the secret place, a literal one, and the one He put in your heart. Never be afraid to depend on Jesus. It's okay to go there. He's waiting for you, knocking at the door of your heart, not just at the moment of salvation, but many times during the day, He calls you. Will you let Him in?
Sanctuary, I just love the sound of the word. What is the definition? A sacred or holy place. It is also a place of refuge. In the Old Testament, there were cities where people could take refuge, they often had to run for their lives about something, in the days of an eye for an eye. Often, a person would search out someone to take revenge on, murder for murder, but sometimes it was more, you steal my sheep, I'll kill your whole family. Vengeance belongs to the Lord, He is merciful and just.
As a girl I spent a lot of time hanging around the sanctuary of the the church where I went to school. I don't remember them teaching me a lot about God, I don't think they knew that much themselves, Christian schools were just starting out, much different to today and homeschooling. I would have liked that.
I was there in the sanctuary, in the wings. I waited for the piano teacher. I watched a poor old lady clean. They should have been helping her, she was not able to do that. I listened to the radio sermon. It's not that I was even that fond of the minister. His wife used to measure my dresses and declare them too short, I was humiliated on my knees, while other girls who smoked pot went free, and theirs were short. It wasn't fair. It wasn't just. But He was my sanctuary.
There have been so many times in my life that I have been humiliated, degraded, embarrassed. I was hurt, offended, when I should not have been, Jesus wasn't. He said I would be blessed if I was't. Though I learned from many ministers over the years, the Holy Spirit is the best teacher of all, tender and wise. He has been my sanctuary through it all.
I might have sinned by omission but there were enemies that gathered like wolves, there were attacks of the enemy simply because I loved and was loved by Jesus. He didn't even need a reason to bless me, He just loved me. I have made so many mistakes covered by His precious blood. I am so glad He loved me, so hurt by what He went through. But it is Not About Me November, so it is about Him.He wanted to love me so much that He was willing to die for me. I love Him because He first loved me. I John 4:18.
It was never about the church or pastor, it was the sanctuary, the sacred and holy place. And there were times I passed quietly by the occasional funeral and pick up a stray flower dropped from the florist van into the west wing, I made my way to class. We had a chapel, I was saved forty four years ago. It wasn't about the piano teacher that was wrapped in her her own cares, or me or the lack of attention to the real grace of Jesus, the false accusations, that made me try harder to be good, to earn a salvation I already had. it was all about Jesus.
I have made a sanctuary of my office, I even have a daybed in it. Stacks of books, a study Bible to the side. I can play music, rest, write or read. And I can share with you His love that flows freely from the river of grace round His throne.
How do you see Jesus? It's important. Is He Lord? Healer? Light of the world? A baby in a manger? Risen? The Son of God? Was He just a man? Or a prophet? Some legend or made up person for ignorant people to believe in so they can feel better about their puny lives? Some people really believe that.
Are you an atheist? Agnostic? Believer? Religious to the extreme or not at all. Do you pray? Fast? Use His name in prayer or in vain. Do you use it with the authority He gave us or are you typing too many OMG's? I want to stir you up, the gift of God inside you. 2 Timothy 1:6, whether or not someone has laid hands on you to receive the Holy Spirit or not, you can just ask Jesus for the gift, if you are a believer. It is a powerful and sweet gift. be sure you are ready, and once you can speak in tongues or receive a prayer language, if you prefer, use it, often.
So how do you see Jesus? take your time and think it over. You can read about me. I loved Him, I was afraid of Him though, that power, wasn't that silly? That's what has protected me from fire, tornadoes, wrecks and burglars, and even a couple of brushes with death. I was afraid of the Holy Spirit, of speaking in tongues. I was afraid of falling out in the Spirit, afraid of not fitting in. Lord have mercy, the spirit of fear was after me. But I resisted and he fled in Jesus name.
So I still love Jesus, because He first loved me, and He is wonderful. He is holy, love and sweetness Himself who died for me and I will praise Him. Praise His name forever. He is Lord, healer, hope, counselor, mighty fortress, rock of my salvation. You can tell, He's my everything.
He is my joy and my delight, my beauty for ashes, He robes me with righteousness, crowns me with love. He listens, He understands, He never criticizes or condemns, He only tells me not to fear, if I falter with that He reminds me with firm correction.
He was and is the Son of God, second person of the Trinity, came as the Son of God, in the flesh, a perfect man who knew no sin but became sin for me. He died horribly, so I could go free, not just to heaven, but even here on earth. He went to hell and retrieved the keys of death, hell and the grave. He restored the believer's authority. We can bind and loose in His name. Matthew 16:19.
He felt every pain and sorrow, He cried and died saying it was finished a testament of love. He rose and ascended and sent the Holy Spirit back to help me. So you see, I think a lot of Jesus, I always have and will. He is my redeemer, I cost Him heaven for a time and now He will take me there. He's my everything. I guess that's how I see Him, I know it is.
I teach, you learn. I knew I had heard that phrase somewhere. And it appears it may be some sort of teaching mantra or principle although I thought I got it from a television show. But it is a very practical phrase when it comes to the Word of God. We must learn about God to even begin to know Him. But who is teaching you? How have you been taught?
The word " know " here has meaning of the intimate relationship. We have to know Jesus intimately in order to understand His love and sacrifice. If people do not believe He is the Son of God, this is lost on them. He was who He said He was. And God sent Him to be the sacrifice for us to even have fellowship with God.
By this intimate knowledge of Jesus we understand His suffering, how He had to love to even endure, the depth of His excruciated pain and the power of His blood and High Priesthood. But don't think that He intends for us to suffer, He did come to free us and heal, but He also taught that there would be things we would go through daily.
Later, In John 10:30, He says that He and the Father are one. The Hebrew word is echad, ee – hod, one. Simply put Jesus was the Father in the flesh, when He was crucified and raised from the dead by the Holy Spirit, He became our High Priest and of course the disciples received the Holy Spirit, in Acts.
So it is paramount to study Jesus, you will see Him be angry and not sin. Heal, raise the dead. Cast out demons, You wll see Him falsely accused, people, even His family tried to reign Him in, some thought He was crazy. He was even called demon possessed, but He's right, why would the devil cast himself out and destroy his kingdom, it God throne he wanted and will never have.
Jesus even prays the Father's love over us in chapter 17, this is before He is crucified. That is how we are saved by His grace, we were crucified with Him and as believers have access to the throne that the devil cannot come near any longer as in Job's day. Jesus also taught in parables.
He wasn't trying to impress them with riddles or just regale them with storytime. His stories had deeper meaning and not everyone would understand. But we have the gift of teaching from our side of it, with all translations and commentaries, and the best gift and teacher, the Holy Spirit, and we are born again. We are not under the law but grace, amazing grace.
We know that the kingdom He spoke of is His Kingdom and it is inside us where the Holy Spirit reside. God is a Spirit and must be worshiped in Spirit and in truth. John 4:24, Jesus was the Word, and the Word was God, He was made flesh and dwelt among us. John 1:1, and He is the love of the Father revealed to us.
I teach, you learn. Yes, maybe so. It may be a collegiate concept, or business one or even pre-K, and I try to simplify it in order to help you not to misunderstand but so that you believe that God is good and that He is love, because He gave us love in the person of Jesus. He is not a cruel or punishing Father but a loving on who will allow you to make mistakes and learn from them and help you up. He is also one that if listen, you won't be making them. He gives us a free will and it is His will that we choose to believe in Him, not what we think He is or someone else's idea. He could be everyone's God but He isn't everyone's idea of God. That's not how it works. That's why He sent Jesus.
The old song says " What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. " It goes on to describe the cleansing of the soul at salvation. He saves us when we accept Him as Lord. He washes us white as snow, our souls, our minds, wills and emotions. We are holy and sanctified, purified by His sacrifice. And pours out His grace and mercy.
If only we could stay that pure. We wrestle flesh when our spirits long to do good. We have an enemy that would torment us night and day with accusations. Often, we are not skilled enough to know the Word. And how to use it against the devil. We usually pray for people, but we should also stand against the devil. We need to back him off our families.
And he comes, for the words we have sown into our hearts. We need to be good ground. We should have roots firmly planted and deeply rooted in Christ. We need to know His truths and apply them and speak His words daily. We should bless our families, spouses and children, even friends and co-workers, bosses. we should be the Bible they read, without beating them over the head with it.
The devil is attacking our families like never before and we need to stand on His promises and believe He is the way and truth and life. I have had so many good words of healing, the miraculous and yet prayer warriors are facing attacks on their health and mental fatigue. We have to really be on guard against a prowling enemy.
During Not About Me November, let's remember to praise and thank Him. He purchased us with His precious blood and that blood is powerful, we need it over our souls, minds, wills and emotions. Jesus finished His work on the cross and we want Him to complete it in us and He will not abandon the work of His hand.
I pray for you today to receive His healing touch in every area of your life that you need it in. I speak life and health to you, His peace to your mind and body. I pray you will enter His rest. I want you to receiver every blessing heaven has to offer you. And in Jesus name let's bind that enemy and loose the assignments upon the body of believers.
In Acts 3, 10, 13, and 14, we find the phrase fastening his eyes, this is when the beggar is healed at the Beautiful Gate. Peter and John are there and meet him, of course, he was expecting a hand out, but got a helping hand. And the other stories involve Paul. We had discussed in other posts, the verse Hebrews 12:2. We are studying Jesus and being thankful to Him, during Not About Me November.
So we definitely need to turn our eyes on Jesus and look fully into His wonderful face, that is when the cares of the world and other distractions melt away. He is the author and finisher of our faith, He has written our names in the Book of Life, engraved them on the palm of His hand, in the nail prints that pinned Him to the cross, but it was His love that held Him there.
God said for us to call on Him in Jeremiah 33:3, and promised to answer and show us what we didn't know. He has plans for us for good and not to harm us, Jeremiah 29:11. He has written the perfect life for us but we life in a fallen world and face many trials but thankfully, we have the ability to overcome, because He has already overcome the word. John 16:33.
When we read about Jesus and the people He encountered, although we may not see the phrase fastening His eyes, we can be sure that be He look the blind in the eye, the deaf, the lame. Can you even comprehend being blind and the first face you see is Jesus? I like to write about women in the Bible, it's on another blog, check out Facebook.
The woman with the issue of blood was considered unclean, was breaking the law to even get to Him, but knew and said she would be healed after twelve years, and she was. She pressed through a lot of negatives because she was positive Jesus could and would free her. She had no doubt. I like to give the unnamed women names just to tell their stories on a personal basis. Zoe means life, Jesus gives ionos Zoe, eternal life. And what about the girl raised from the dead? She must have opened her eyes to love.
What about some of His other miracles? He looked at leper and said He was willing to heal him. So may people have doubt about it, He understands that, but remember unbelief is an atmosphere where He can do no mighty work. It is also called evil to have an unbelieving heart. So don't go there, the devil is a liar. Fearful and unbelieving people are first n hell. Jesus doesn't want that.
The demoniac in his madness had a shred of himself left to bow to Jesus, where no man could bind him, Jesus bound the demons and loosed him to be clothed and in his right, instead of being happy, the people wanted him to leave. I guess they wanted to keep their demons.
Jesus looked at Him and loved him, He tried to draw him close, but he went away sorrowful, because he was wealthy. I know Jesus was also, he would rather us choose Him and then He prospers us. But let's take a moment and realize, it was not all about the rich young, ruler, the prodigal son, the woman at the well, whatever her name, it was all about Jesus, the perfect sacrifice for us.
Don't you know that whatever the story, even cleansing the temple, Jesus was looking at them and loved them. Many people saw it, do we. We have the advantage of looking back, when they may have just though that He was a prophet, people may have doubted Him unless they were there for the ascension, gradually, through history, the power of Jesus and His love, started to fade from the memories of some.