Coming Broken to the Savior

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apathy, brokenness, emptiness, forgiveness, good start for the week, good start to your day, grace, guilty, healing your wounds, keeping our wounds, mercy, restoration, walking wounded, welcomed by Jesus, wholeness, wounded, wounded welcome, wounds

There’s a version of Just as I Am by Travis Cottrell that says,

“I come broken to be mended
I come wounded to be healed
I come desperate to be rescued
I come empty to be filled
I come guilty to be pardoned
By the blood of Christ the Lamb
And I’m welcomed with open arms
Praise God, just as I am”
 

I love this song, but lately I am reminded that many times when I come broken, it’s not to be mended. When I come wounded, it’s not to be healed. I want to come with my brokenness and pain, but I want to hang onto it; I want others to notice my wounds. Maybe I don’t think I’ll get enough attention if I don’t look like the walking wounded.  

Other times, I think I come empty and leave empty, not because Jesus can’t fill me, but because I simply don’t ask.

I know at other times I come guilty, but don’t ask to be pardoned. I must want to wallow in my sin a little longer. I tend to like my pride and unforgiveness and I’ve certainly given apathy too much space.

The song mentioned above reminds me that I am welcomed just as I am…broken, wounded, desperate, empty and guilty, but Christ has wholeness for me. Christ has open arms ready to fill, pardon and mend. Jesus says in John 10:10, “A thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.” He doesn’t have failure for me. He has abundance. That’s my life in His arms…freedom, life and abundance.

So, as we walk through this week together, let’s remember that brokenness, emptiness and guilt are all in us, but we can place those things in Christ’s arms where restoration, forgiveness and wholeness can take place.

Let’s come broken to be mended. Let’s come wounded to be healed and leave the mess in Jesus’ arms where it belongs.

Seeking Hearts Ministries

My Story
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Stay at the Gate

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being strong in Christ, Christ strength in us, don't give up, God's strength, God's strength in weakness, God's strength to the needy, not giving in, repelling the onslaught, standing strong for family, standing strong in faith, staying strong, strength in Christ, tired of fighting

Isaiah 28:5-6 says, “In that day the LORD of hosts will become a beautiful crown and a glorious diadem to the remnant of His people; a spirit of justice for him who sits in judgment, a strength to those who repel the onslaught at the gate.”

Ever feel like you are the only one at the gate of your family repelling the onslaught of this world? Ever feel like if it weren’t for you the enemy would take every member of your family captive? Ever feel like the attacks just keep coming and coming and coming? If so, know that the Lord is giving strength to you. His strength is constantly being fed into your spirit just like the drip of an IV. Not too fast, not too slow, just step by step, need by need.

Isaiah tells us “He gives strength to those who repel the onslaught at the gate.” That’s you. You’re the one standing at the gate feeling the greatest heat and you’re the one feeling the greatest strength. Be encouraged today. Keep repelling the onslaught. Don’t give up. It’s not your strength, it’s His and His strength never runs low, or out. Stand strong and in the power of His might (Ephesians 6:10). He’s got you. Stay at the gate and feel His strength today.

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Seeking Hearts Ministries

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Picking and Choosing

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am i apathetic to the lost, am i blessed, American Dream, apathy, becoming greedy, blessings, christian apathy, christian narcissism, greed, hoarding, pickiness, provision, religion, sharing blessings, sharing the Gospel, truth, why do we get blessings, winning souls

The other day I saw a Facebook post come across my feed that said, “Half the world is starving while the other half is trying to lose weight.”

It definitely made me think about the physical starvation of people, but it was like a punch in the gut when I thought about the spiritual side of things.

Most of us pick and choose our Christianity like we pick and choose items off of a buffet.

Millions have never even heard the name of Jesus, yet I decide which teacher I like best, which ministry I’ll support and which translation of the Bible I deem as appropriate to study from. I gorge myself and then look around in condescension on those who aren’t choosing the same things off the menu as I am.

Meanwhile, in the real world, others are starving to hear the Word. They are hungry and trying to fill their empty plates with anything that even seems like it might fit. What am I doing? I’m standing in the line at the buffet. Desperate people are simply trying to find the door to the restaurant while my back is turned refilling my plate over and over.

Can you tell I’m a little mad at myself? I’m actually sickened. I’m sickened by my excuses and lack of love.

Oswald J. Smith said, “No one has the right to hear the gospel twice, while there remains someone who has not heard it once.”

Hudson Taylor said, “Perhaps if there were more of that intense distress for souls that leads to tears, we should more frequently see the results we desire. Sometimes it may be that while we are complaining of the hardness of the hearts of those we are seeking to benefit, the hardness of our own hearts and our feeble apprehension of the solemn reality of eternal things may be the true cause of our want of success.”

I find myself getting into lulls with praying for the lost. Sometimes, it’s an intense burden to pray for individuals by name, literally begging God to break through a particular heart so they will receive Him. At other times though, it’s as if I’ve never met a lost person in my life. I’m clueless and heartless and a day becomes a week before I mention a lost soul in my prayers once again. Am I not doing Bible study during this lull? Am I not going to church? Am I not memorizing Scripture with my youngest? Am I not writing the blog? The crazy thing is that I AM! Don’t worry…I’m still at the buffet filling my own plate. Apparently, I’m just not willing to share.

I’m finding that Hudson Taylor must be right. It’s my own hardness of heart that stops the growth of Christianity in my generation. Where’s the distress over souls?!What is wrong with me?! Have I become narcissistic in my Christianity? Is there such a thing? How can I be a Christian and obsessed with myself? Isn’t that impossible? If I’m a “little Christ”, aren’t I obsessed with others and dying to self daily?“O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24)

The very next verse of Romans 7 says that only Jesus Christ can deliver me and oh, I know that’s true. He’s delivered me over and over again. He’s replaced this hard heart so many times I’ve lost count. I’m so thankful He never gives up on me. I am so thankful that He has convicted me once again and is reminding me of the millions who have yet to know Him. I thank Him that He does not want one soul to perish without Him (2 Peter 3:9). I thank Him that He is the Good Shepherd that continues to find the one little lost lamb (Matthew 18:11-14).

I’m thankful for this buffet that He has for me, but I need to remember that I have been given this buffet to lure others in. The tantalizing aromas of grace and love must be all over me so that others want to come and partake as well. I have been able to taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8) so that I can point others to the choicest meat. I’m supposed to share with others who are starving and not simply sit around looking at another person in line at the buffet talking about how good everything is. Yes, I am supposed to feed myself, but only so I can have the strength to feed others. That’s what this buffet is really for…to sustain us all, not just one, or two.

I’m reminded of the time when Jesus fed the massive multitude of over 5,000 people with two fish and five loaves of bread (Matthew 14). He commanded His disciples to share and not hoard it. Can you imagine the rebuke they would have gotten had they just hoarded it away and kept it all for themselves? Such a thing is laughable to us becasue we know the hungry crowd was right in front of them, but isn’t the hungry crowd in front of us as well?

We have been given so much more than two fish and five loaves and He has commanded us to go and share, but we have become hoarders of God’s provision and I know in my own life… I’m sick of smelling the fish. When I am tight fisted with God’s buffet, no one benefits, including myself. Blessings are meant to be shared.

When did we get so scared of losing what God has given us to begin with? 

As I stare at my buffet of Bibles, talents, study guides and so much more, I have to ask my Lord what the next step is. Would you be willing to do the same? We all have our own buffet of provision. How does God want you to share yours?

“Half the world is starving while the other half is trying to lose weight.”

It’s a real shame that this statement has become so true when all along the food has been for us all. Thank God for His provision today, but let’s stop picking and choosing and get to sharing instead.

Seeking Hearts Ministries

My Story with Christ

** Picture from Noka’s Lavish Buffet Spread

 

 

A New Angle

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a fresh look at the cross, a new angle to view the cross, blood shed for us, death of Christ, death of Jesus, Jesus, jesus sacrifice, looking at Jesus' blood, looking at the cross, shed blood, the cross, the cross of Christ

Yesterday, I came across a video that stuck with me throughout the day and I think will be with me for quite some time.

It was Jesus on the Cross (a scene many of us have seen on many occasions), but the camera showed things from a different angle. The video began with an angle that showed the backside of the Cross while it was still on the ground. It took me a minute to figure out what it was, but it was showing the spikes being pounded in from the underside and each blow sent the spike deeper through the side I was seeing. As it did so, blood poured through… Jesus’ blood.

Once I realized what was happening, the crucifixion hit my heart in a different way. I was allowed to see the blood of Christ shed for me in a fresh way simply because I saw it from a different angle.

I’m ashamed that it took a different view of the Cross yesterday for me to remember Jesus’ sacrifice, but it did.

I have to wonder, “How many times have I allowed the magnificence of what Christ has done for me grow mundane?”

I have to ask myself,“How many times have I sat through a description of the Cross not remembering the pain Jesus endured and the sacrifice He made for me?”

“How many times have I allowed the miracle of Jesus’s shed blood to not resonate simply because I have read, seen, or heard it so often?”

Once again, I’m ashamed, but it has caused me to pray. It has caused me to pray that all of us grasp the reality of Jesus’ death once again.

I’m praying that it hits us in a fresh way, at a new angle if you will, so that it will impact us in the way that it should.  I’m praying that our fresh look would cause us to come before Him with hearts open to whatever He has for us because He gave all for us and I’m praying that our new angle causes us to love others as we are called because he first loved us (I John 4:19).

So, let’s all pray together for a fresh look, a new angle, to see the Cross clearly. It’s brutal, it’s cruel, it’s hard to look at, but it’s what He did it for every, single one of us. Let’s praise Him today!

Seeking Hearts Ministries

My Story

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Everything From His Hand

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daily bread, daily provision, examples of giving, generosity, getting a giving heart, giving, God's ownership, gratefulness, having a giving heart, provision, stewardship, tithing, truth

 

I have been reminded over and over lately that everything we have comes from our Father’s hands.

I may have been able to make decisions based on His provision that seemed like I was in control, but ultimately and absolutely everything comes from God alone. Even things that I give back to Him were His to begin with.

A great example of this came about a month ago when my youngest came to me and ask what kind of a budget he had to spend on us for Christmas. He has no job, no way to provide for presents himself, so he came to me. He shopped his little heart out, wrapped them with the greatest of care and gave us our gifts at Christmas.

Even though I had provided the resources for the gifts, even took him shopping and even had supplied the wrapping paper, bows and tape, we all received our gifts with joy.

I think that’s the way it is with God. He provides us with our jobs, our health, our families, our food…you name it…and when we return it back as a gift to Him, He still receives it with joy.

We may fall into the trap of thinking, “What’s the use of giving God anything if He has it all?”We may think that giving our time, talents and finances to God is no big deal, but His Word gives us many examples that this is not the case. It does matter to God that we give back to Him.

Some examples we see are Abel’s sacrifice in the book of Genesis, Noah giving of his talents, time and life, Abraham being willing to sacrifice his son Isaac and we see the Israelites giving many precious metals in order to build the Temple.

King David gave offerings galore knowing that everything he had came from God alone. 1 Chronicles 29:16 is part of David’s prayer after the offerings were given for the Temple. This is what he says, “Yahweh our God, all this wealth that we’ve provided for building You a house for Your holy name comes from Your hand; everything belongs to You.”

To realize and know that everything he had came from God, actually increased David’s generosity.

That’s what happens with us. When we know that everything we have comes from God alone, we realize that He will continue to provide as He wills and we ask what He wants us to do with the things He has so freely given. We are generous because we realize that it is His anyway.

Food in my pantry? His.

Internet access? His.

Clothes on my back? His.

Health of any kind? His.

Tax refund? His.

Paycheck? His.

Significant other? His.

Dollar I found on the road? His.

Let’s be honest, because my youngest had been given cash to give his family Christmas gifts, his generosity abounded. If it had been “his” money, I think our gifts would have been slightly different. I’m not throwing my kid under the bus; I’m just being honest about human nature.

When we realize that everything we have is God’s anyway, our hands are more open to give. We are more generous with someone else’s time, talents and finances. We must realize too that when our hands are open to give, they are also open to receive. Malachi 3:10 says, “Bring the full tenth into the storehouse so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this way,” says the LORD of Hosts. “See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure.’ ”

So, let’s allow this year to be one marked significantly with generosity. Let’s set the precedent of asking God where He wants us to use our time, where He wants us to invest our talents and where He wants us to give our finances realizing that everything comes from His hand.

Seeking Hearts Ministries

My Story

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No Petting the Snake (Dealing with Fear)

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Christian encouragement, conquering fear, controlling anxiety, controlling fear, controlling worry, destroying fear, encouragement, fear, gaining new ground with God, getting free of fear, getting new terrotory this year, getting rid of fear, getting rid of the spirit of fear, how to control anxiety, how to control fear, how to gain new ground with God, how to gain new territory with God, how to get new life with Christ, how to get rid of fear, how to let our powerful God do His thing, how to not be controlled by fear, how to not let fear control you, how to stop fear, letting go of fear, the real story about fear, truth, walking in victory

As I was reading Joshua 24 this morning, I found Joshua reminding the children of Israel of all the times the Lord had delivered them on their journey to the Promised Land. Over and over and over again the Lord provided, encouraged and conquered nations on their behalf.

It made me realize that seeing victory required seeing mountains and enemies and scarcity of resources. I realized that the Israelites were human beings just like us, so just as many times as God provided for them, just as many times as God defeated their enemies, they had to have had fear to some degree. I only have the proof from Judges 7 where part of Gideon’s original army was afraid and (as stated earlier) they were human. I also have the knowledge of how many times God tells us to “fear not” in the Bible, so obviously it was as big of an issue then as it is now.

Normally, I would be fearful of how many times I’m fearful. You know, freaking out at how many times I’ve disappointed God with my lack of faith when He has cleared obstacles before. But this morning, I took courage from the fact that even though God’s people must have had some fear every time they were asked to clear the way, God still gave them the victory. As long as they were dependent on God alone and His guidance, they continued to gain ground. That’s really encouraging to me!

So, what can we learn from the Israelites? Should we just huddle in our fear and do nothing? Should we stay behind and let the brave few march forward? I think not! We should hand our fear over to God every single time it pops up. Sometimes, fear is so much a part of us that we don’t even recognize it, but we can pray for eyes to see fear for what it really is and then stop playing with it and allow our Savior to stomp it into the ground while we march over it into our Promised Land.

Think of fear as a rattlesnake. Do I know that rattlesnakes will pop up in certain territories? Yes, but that will not keep me from hiking through anyway. So, we simply take precautions and kill that sucker when he blocks our path.

Just like with fear. Do I know that fear will pop up when I am trying anything new, or having a breakthrough with my Lord? Yes, but that will not block my path. I’ll come prepared with my Bible verses and in the name of Jesus allow Him to crush the head of the serpent as only He can (Genesis 3:15).

Fear will come, but let’s not allow it stop us and for heaven’s sake let’s not play with it either. I know with me personally when I allow fear in one area of my life, it breeds into every area. So, it must be destroyed completely. We can’t keep fear as a pet. It will always grow too big to control. Always.

So, be encouraged today. Know that fear does come with conquering new territory, but allow God to destroy it and give you the victory anyway.

I’m leaving you with some verses to read through, meditate on and help to prepare you for those steps into great, new territories that God has for you. He has a Promised Land for you this year. Don’t allow fear to keep you from it. Some of these verses will resonate more than others. That’s the Holy Spirit working in you and letting you know how to prepare for the coming days. Take hold of those, memorize them, write them down and cling to them instead of fear.

Here you go …

Psalm 27:1-3,”The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom should I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life— of whom should I be afraid? When evildoers came against me to devour my flesh, my foes and my enemies stumbled and fell. Though an army deploys against me, my heart is not afraid; though a war breaks out against me, still I am confident.”

Psalm 46:1-3, “God is our refuge and strength, a helper who is always found in times of trouble.Therefore we will not be afraid, though the earth trembles and the mountains topple into the depths of the seas, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with its turmoil.Selah”

Psalm 118:6,“The LORD is for me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

Psalm 118:8, “It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man.”

Psalm 56:3-4, “When I am afraid, I will trust in You. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”

Psalm 91:5, “You will not fear the terror of the night, the arrow that flies by day…”

Psalm 112:7-8, “He will not fear bad news; his heart is confident, trusting in the LORD. His heart is assured; he will not fear. In the end he will look in triumph on his foes.”

Isaiah 35:4, “Say to the cowardly: “Be strong; do not fear! Here is your God; vengeance is coming. God’s retribution is coming; He will save you.”

Isaiah 41:10, “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with My righteous right hand.” — How beautiful is that? Put your hand in His as a trusting child.

Isaiah 41:13, “For I, Yahweh your God, hold your right hand and say to you: Do not fear, I will help you.”

Isaiah 43:2, “I will be with you when you pass through the waters, and ⌊when you pass⌋ through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. You will not be scorched when you walk through the fire, and the flame will not burn you.”

Isaiah 44:8, “Do not be startled or afraid. Have I not told you and declared it long ago? You are my witnesses! Is there any God but Me? There is no ⌊other⌋ Rock; I do not know any.”

Isaiah 8:12, “Do not call everything an alliance these people say is an alliance. Do not fear what they fear; do not be terrified.” — I love this one because it reminds us that we are not to be terrified like those who do not have the hope of Jesus. I can’t even imagine trying to deal with fear without Jesus!

Jeremiah 17:7-8, “The man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence indeed is the LORD, is blessed. He will be like a tree planted by water: it sends its roots out toward a stream, it doesn’t fear when heat comes, and its foliage remains green. It will not worry in a year of drought or cease producing fruit.”

Matthew 10:29-31, “Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s consent. But even the hairs of your head have all been counted. So don’t be afraid therefore; you are worth more than many sparrows.”  

Luke 12:31-32, “Yet seek ye his kingdom, and these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

Romans 8:15, “For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!”

2 Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness, but one of power, love, and sound judgment.”

Hebrews 13:6, “Therefore, we may boldly say: The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

1 John 4:18, “There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears has not reached perfection in love.”

Be blessed this week, dear ones and know that our God does not want us be smothered by our fear, but He wants us to acknowledge it and bring it to Him so that He can destroy it completely as only He can.

Seeking Hearts Ministries

My Story