Suffering to Complete

^"For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings....Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. ¹⁸ For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted." - Hebrews 2:10, 17-18

Jesus suffering made complete, our captain of our salvation because He is able to understand and help us when we are in need and troubled. Jesus then, was made complete not from being perfect, but from going through suffering. Why then would it be any different for us? We are made complete through suffering. And made perfect through Jesus. His perfect-ness came from being sin-less, His complete-ness came from suffering.

Because He is Our Father...

When we are set with a path to take, up and over hills, through the valleys and top of mountians, we take each step knowing our help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth; mountain tops, rolling hills and the deepest valleys. And when He created them we were ever present on His mind, knowing we would one day be walking through them. He made it hard enough that we would rely on His strength to reach the mountain top. He made the path long enough so that we would know we wouldn't be able to go on to the next hill unless He gave us the perseverance to carry on and the grace to endure. He made the valleys dark so that we would build our faith and hope by taking one step at a time with the lamp He shone for us to light up just the next step. That is why He made that beautiful sunset that left you breathless in awe of your Creator. The morning dew grass to show you the many tears the Father has cried over you because how purely clean the drop is is how clearly pure He sees you. Wild flowers scattered bout the valleys that fill your heart with giddy joy and makes you dance before your King; and in turn He is over come with joy to see His daughter dance with praise, He joins you in the dance and sweeps you off your feet. That is why He made the flower smell sweet, the sunshine feel warm, snow crunch beneath your feet and fall leaves to dance wildly when they fall. To make sure His child could see all the beauty He sees in you; that along your journey there would always be a treasure to be found, a love letter waiting to be read, a gift to be opened, a blessing to enjoy. Because He is our Father, He thinks of these things.

"I will lift my eyes to the hills- from whence comes my help? My help comes from the LORD who made heaven and earth." - Psalm 121

You Were

You have been the fulfiller of promises and dreams.

You met me wherever I was and in all circumstance and all needs.

When we asked, You met, You came, You fulfilled, You did

all far above and exceedingly more than what we asked!

You have changed us. You have not left us unchanged or untouched.

You did miracles that we could see. You did miracles we could be.

You proved Yourself when you didn't have to.

You have been all we ever needed. You have been faithful.

We asked and you did. We called, You listened.

We needed, You met. We invited, You came.

We failed, You came through. We emptied, You filled.

We poured out, You poured more in.

Yet even when we didn't, You still were and did.

We wanted to fall apart, You held us together.

We wanted to give up, but You ran along side cheering us on.

We wanted to give in, but You stood strong beside us.

When we didn't want to, You were the perseverance for us.

When we were weak, You were the self control on our lips and patients in our hearts.

When we did wrong, You convicted and gave us grace.

When we were fearful, You were our peace.

When we overwhelmed, You were the rock that was higher than us.

When we were drowning, You held out Your hand.

When we were broken, You mended.

When we filled with pain, You healed.

And when we could not go any further, You carried us.

Walking in Security

"He who walks with integrity walks securely,
But he who perverts his ways will become known."

Recently I had gone to a bible study going through the book of Proverbs, and we came to this passage. And when the pastor went to further explain the passage, he was saying that when it talks about, 'waking in integrity' that means doing the right thing when no one else is. When you choose to stand up for what you know is right and everyone is pressuring you to do the opposite. And once you do so, doing what's right, you can walk securely in your stance. We don't have to cower after making our choice, or feel insecure and walk away hanging our head. No, God's word says we can walk securely! That we, who are in Christ can walk in security because we are clothed in strength and dignity. (Prov. 31:25) Our heads can sit squarely on our heads, and hang them no more with the burden of guilt. For there is now no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus! Romans 8:1

Ready and Watching

"...Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming..."

One of my family's dogs, Fluffers, is a keen guard, at least she likes to think she is. And when ever she sees us cleaning, she knows we're expecting someone. She barks at every little sound and won't come inside, but rather likes to sit on the front porch watching for a car to pull up, so she won't be caught off guard. The other day we were tidying up for some company, but we weren't quite sure when they were arriving. Fluffers knew we were expecting someone, so as she always does; she went out on the front porch and listened for any kind of noise. And as barked at every car passing by, rabbit hopping across our driveway, or any mention of the words "here", "there they are" and "coming", though they had no connection to someone arriving; it reminded me of one of the scriptures talking about Jesus return.

"....Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming....But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."

He said the we are to constantly be ready for the return of Jesus, for we know not of the hour nor day in which He returns. We are to continually ready ourselves as if today was the day of His return; to cleanse ourselves of all impurities, clean out all the unnecessary weights and sins that so easily beset us. This way we can be ready at anytime for His return and not be caught, in a sense, off guard. Just like our dog, who stood watch, expecting someone at any moment whether - or not we really were expecting someone or just doing daily chores. We keep clean, ready for our guest to arrive at any moment, as well as watching, anticipating the arrival of our Guest!

Flood Water's May Prevail....

"Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered...And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days."

'The flood waters prevailed and greatly increased, and the water prevailed exceedingly on the earth...' Over and over it states the flood waters prevailed, covering hills, mountains and every height there was, it prevailed, drowned it, and over took it. How often does it feel as though our flood waters have prevailed? Over come and covered all our hills climbed, mountains once conquered, heights experienced and now, the flood waters have prevailed. Or are there times where we thought the flood waters were going to prevailed over us. The flood waters were coming and you just knew, they would prevail. And no matter what hill you climbed, no matter what mountain top you stood on, you knew the flood waters would prevail. That sinking feeling when you realize you are in over your head, but at that point, who can save you? But here, though God allowed the flood waters to prevail over all the earth, it prevailed not over Noah. The one man God had made his covenant with, the one whom God, looking over the earth and seeing only evil, saw Noah as righteous and promised him a covenant with Him. What did the flood waters do instead? It raised it up. It lifted it up. 'The flood waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters.' The flood waters made the ark raise above, it lifted it up on high and it moved on the surface of the prevailing, great, flood waters. Guess what? God does the same with our flood waters. He allows such floods to come our way to lift us up, that we may rise above it all and move on the surface of the prevailing, mighty, stormy, flood waters. That the very waters that threatened us would be the waters that would lift us up above all that was weighing us down and raise us up to our destiny.

Whose You Are

"And He [Jesus] said to them. "Whose image and inscription is this?" They said to Him, "Caesar's." And Jesus answered and said to them, "Render to Caesar's the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." And they marveled at Him."

This is a story which I'm sure we are all familiar with, and it is usually associated with obeying the authority that has been put over you, for it has been brought there by God. But this time I read it I thought about it different light of, "Whose image...is this?" Now when I read this I thought of how we are made in God's image, and if we believe in Him and accept Him as our Savior we are inscribed as His. But the opposite is also true, if we don't believe in Him and we reject Jesus as our Savior we are not inscribed as His, but are inscribed as the Enemy's, Satan's. For just as the text said, " Render to Caesar's the things that are Caesar's..." For if you have rejected Jesus and therefore been inscribed as Satan's you will be given over to him as his and the image that once was of God is now transformed into that of darkness. 'Render to Satan's the things that are Satan's...' Yet for those of us who have believed in God and accepted Jesus as our Savior, we are saved and inscribed as one of God's; under His name and made perfect in Christ image, reflecting God and therefore light and life everlasting! '...And render to God the things that are God's.'

Little Treasures

" Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat. Then He charged them, saying. "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." And they reasoned among themselves, saying,

"It is because we have no bread." But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understanding? Is your heart still hardened? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?" They said to Him, "Twelve." "Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?" And they said, "Seven." So He said to them, "How is it you do not understand?" - Mark 8:14-21

Here the disciples have just witnessed Jesus feeding four thousand and yet just a little while later they forget what He has done in performing a miracle of providing and multiplying. We see that as soon as they got in the boat they had already forgotten about the miracle, they had forgotten Jesus benefits. Jesus perceives them reasoning among them selves about this and asks how they could so easily forget, like in Psalm 103:2,5.

"Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits....Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's." May we not be as quick to forget His benefits and doubt that He is the one Who satisfies our mouth with good things, that our strength might be renewed!

In Job 39:9 God is talking to Job and is in a sense stating His power and omnipotence and says, "Will the wild ox be willing to serve you? Will he bed by your manger?" Even there in Job God refers to or foretells of Jesus coming as a babe and laying in a manger among the animals.

the simple things of life

I know this isn't very spiritual but I to share my excitement with someone! What is all the excitement? It has been around 80 to 90 this week and humidity suffocates the atmosphere; and then as evening creeps on, bellowing thunder rolls in beckoning the rain to come. The thunder bellows on as the rain trickles down drop by drop. Each drop hits the hot pavement in a stream of steam, an aroma rises from the sizzling streets no words could describe. The very smell of it makes one want to run outside and dance in the downpour and be swept away with the overwhelming of the senses. And just as the dark gray storm clouds have smothered all, light flashes of neon light, filling the sky. As evening peeks, the lightning strikes begin dancing across the backdrop of sea gray and blue. They flash on the sky so fast, its as though a ribbon dance is being performed in the heavenly. Neon streaks of blue, purple and even pink flow across the blackened sky making the streaks that much more intense as though the dance has reached the climax. Just when you think the whole sky will ignite with one final explosion of light, it calms, the wind comes in and sweeps it away as backstage crew would sweep up the confetti of the stage. The show has come to a close and the curtains have been drawn, leaving its audience speechless in awe.