Before you read this, take a minute or two and just acknowledge that God is there at your house, in your office, in that cubicle at work with you, wanting you to give your heart to him day by day, moment by moment.
No, for real. Did you do the above? It will hopefully help you gain more understanding in the rest of the blog. God is real. God is the only One that can faithfully love you perfectly, passionately, and justly. Quiet your mind........shhhhhhhh. He is loudest in my life when I am silent. Turn off the music. His whispers shake my life, haunt my understanding of the world. It's this intense mystery of the Lord that I would like to share with you. One passage of scripture that I came across that added to this mysteriousness of God's love for me came in Luke 22.
It's a story I'm sure you are all familiar with. Peter, one of Jesus's closest followers, says that he would follow Jesus to his death then Jesus foretells Peter's denials thrice before the rooster crows. Jesus gets arrested and Peter, with such passion, cuts off a guard's ear, Jesus heals the ear, Jesus goes to trial, Peter follows at a distance, three different people including a servant girl accuse Peter of being associated with Jesus, he denies knowing Jesus each time, the rooster crows, and then it happened, the thing that caused Peter to run out weeping bitterly. Read verse 61 (Luke 22:61). "The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter." If you've seen Passion of the Christ, this moment is captured pretty well in the movie. The look of Christ did not say "I told you so," or say, "You fool," but rather showed Peter his love and concern for his heart. What would it have been like to walk among the son of God and be one of his closest friends? You follow him, see miracles and things you've never seen before, you trust him and confess that he is the Christ (Matthew 16:16), your heart believes so strongly in this that you'd be willing to die for Jesus, then, a servant girl thinks you look familiar and, to save your skin, deny ever knowing Him. Your actions are not in line with your heart.
So often, I will be pumped to follow the Lord and give him my life but as soon as I place it in his hands, I take it back and can't part with it. I deny him and my trust in him waivers. Does God wrestle it back and slap my hand? Does he say "You fool"? John 3:17 says "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." Can you imagine the look of Christ after you sin? Could you look him in the eye? What would find in his stare? I often lack integrity. My words, thoughts, and deeds are different when I'm "alone" but the fact is, I'm not alone ever. God sees me when I sin against him, regardless if I acknowledge his presence.
The Bible doesn't clarify where Jesus was in relation to Peter when he was disowned by his friend, but I can say confidently that he didn't need to be within earshot of Peter's words, only within eyeshot of Peter's face. Eye contact is a powerful thing, especially with people that you are close to. A relationship with God is nothing compared to any other relationship you will ever have. The love and the forgiveness that came to Peter in John 21 is something I hope you find in your life. If you haven't already put your trust in Jesus, now is a pretty good time. You don't need to "clean up" before you talk to him (Romans 5:8 says that Jesus died for us while we were sinners), just ask him to help you with whatever you need. He'll be there for you, even if you've ignored his presence your entire life, he is there waiting for you to come to him. His death on the cross not only can remove the punishment for your sins (eternity in hell) but can remove the power of sin over your life as well (Romans 6:11). If you have time, read Luke 22:31-62 and John 21. You have time. Spending time with the Lord (not just reading the Bible, but sitting in His very presence) is more valuable than that newspaper article, that TV show, that computer game, and (dare I say) that NFC Championship game.
I will hopefully have more of an actual update of what's going on with the ministry next week. Thank you for being patient with me and for reading. Things are going well here and I'm learning alot. More details to come.
Please pray:
-For the spiritual lives of the kids. Their names-Rayshantia, Challah, Chassidy, Charity, Alex, Diallo, and Emery.
-That if we get three new kids soon that we could give them as much attention and love as we've been able to give to the first seven.
-That God would give me the courage and trust to follow Him and do things that are of His mysterious will, regardless of what people may think. I want to follow God, not people. (I struggle with this)
Much love, and go Pack!
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