Try Jesus; You Just Might Love Him

Open The Door And Let Him In

 

Psalm 34:4-8 KJV

I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.

They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.

This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.

The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.

O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

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There are some social media posts going around that want to know what foods you like and which ones won't you eat. I haven't found anything that I won't eat or at least try. There are a few that if I have a choice I would definitely choose something else. The reality is that unless you try it you will never know if you actually like it.

The psalmist tells us to taste and see that the Lord is good. How do you know he's not to your liking if you've never really got to know him or to be in relationship with him? How will you know if you've never opened the door to your heart even a crack to let him come in? In St. John's vision he heard:

"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." (Rev 3:20)

He's there. He loves you. He want you to be in a loving relationship with you. He wants to help you. Trust him. Let him in. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed are you who trust in him.

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Blot Out My Transgressions

1 John 1:8

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PSALM 51 KJV

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.

Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.

Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.

Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.

Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.

Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.

Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.

Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.

O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.

For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem.

Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.

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As we enter into the season of Lent let us remember that we are thoroughly unclean and that only by the blood of Jesus have we been cleansed from our sins. Thanks be to God they are thoroughly washed away by the blood of Jesus! 

It is not just during this season of penitence that we are to consider and repent of our sins; but, every day of our lives for we are sinners through and through and not one day goes by that we do not commit offenses against God. Let us rejoice for Christ alone has saved us from our sinful ways!

May God help us today and always to consider and understand how we betray and turn our backs on Him. May He open our lips so that we might praise Him for cleansing us of our sins by the blood of Jesus the Christ that we might be reconciled to Him and to one another in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Blinded By The Light

At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me.

And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.

But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;

Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,

To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. 

                                                                                      (Acts 26:13-18 KJV)

Blinded by the light as he met the ascended Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul was sent by Jesus himself to open the eyes of all who could not see Jesus; to turn them from darkness to the light of Christ. 

His testimony to King Agrippa was compelling. It was so compelling that the king would have set him free had Paul not requested to make an appeal before Caesar. Paul's intention by appealing to Caesar was not to be found not guilty. It was so that even Caesar might hear the truth about Jesus and would see the light. 

As Paul was blinded by the light his eyes were opened so that he could see the truth who is Jesus the Christ. 

May God open the eyes of all people by the power of the Holy Spirit that all might step out of the darkness into the marvelous light of Jesus the Christ.

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Looking For Jesus

The day following, when the people which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was none other boat there, save that one whereinto his disciples were entered, and that Jesus went not with his disciples into the boat, but that his disciples were gone away alone;

(Howbeit there came other boats from Tiberias nigh unto the place where they did eat bread, after that the Lord had given thanks:)

When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus.

                                                                            (John 6:22-24 KJV)

What are you looking for? How hard would you look to find it?

It makes me a bit crazy when things are lost and I or someone else cannot find them. I cannot do anything else until it is found.

The crowd was looking for Jesus. They knew he hadn't left in the boat with the disciples. They had not seen him walk on the water to join the disciples in their boat. They wanted to find him. They wanted to see him. They wanted to hear him. They wanted to be healed by him. So, the whole crowd got into boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus. They were trying hard to find him. They were trying hard to follow him.

How far would you go to find Jesus; to follow him? You really don't have to go far. It's not that hard to find him. He is with you and for you now and always. 

"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." (Rev 3:20)

God's Peace - Pr. J

Storms Will Come; Prepare

Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. (Matt 7:24-27 KJV)

Open your eyes and see. See what you have built your house upon. Is your spiritual house built upon the rock who is Jesus the Christ? Or is it built upon the sand that will eventually crumble and leave you without shelter or comfort? What condition is your house in? Do you say you believe; but, do you do nothing that keeps that house intact? Are you straying from that solid foundation, which is the word of God? 

Open your eyes and see. See where you have put your treasures. You may have acquired lots of "stuff." But, what condition is it in? Have you taken the time to maintain it? Or, are you sitting back and watching it fall apart because you are  too busy doing other things that are more pleasurable at the moment? What good is it to work to have lots of "stuff" if we are only going to let it rot away or get blown away in a storm. 

Open your eyes and see. Look around you and see where your responsibilities lie. When storms come; whether they are physical or spiritual, you cannot blame God for the storms because you have not taken the time to prepare for the storms. He has given us eyes to see what needs done. He has given us minds to know how to prepare. He has given us hands to do the work. If we want to hang on to the things that God has given us, we need to own the responsibility to take care of them.

Storms will come. They are inevitable. Prepare wisely. Open your eyes and see what needs shoring up before chaos comes. 

God grant us open eyes to see and the desire and energy to care for all that He has given us. 

God's Peace - Pr. J

Come Down From the Heavens!

Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,
   that the mountains would tremble before you!
As when fire sets twigs ablaze
   and causes water to boil,
come down to make your name known to your enemies
   and cause the nations to quake before you!
For when you did awesome things that we did not expect,
   you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.
Since ancient times no one has heard,
   no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
   who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
You come to the help of those who gladly do right,
   who remember your ways.
But when we continued to sin against them,
   you were angry.
   How then can we be saved?
All of us have become like one who is unclean,
   and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
   and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
                                                               (Isa 64:1-6 NIV)

I know this prayer from Isaiah. No, I haven't memorized it. But, I know it. I've prayed it at least a few times: "O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence!" And, I have a feeling that I'm probably not alone in having prayed a prayer similar to that from time to time. When life has gotten really rough; when you've felt persecuted or all alone, haven't you ever thought or prayed: "This is enough. Please, make your presence known to all people so they'd straighten out and we could live in peace already!"?

Yet, Isaiah reminds us, that it’s not everyone else, but me, too. Isaiah reminds us that we have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like filthy rags. It’s not just everyone else. We are all guilty and our sins, just as the wind, sweep us away from God’s presence.

But, we are not out of God’s presence. He is with us. In spite of the fact that we often do not hear nor do we see the answer, the prayer has been answered. For God did indeed come down to us. The great God Almighty came down to earth to meet humankind right where we are. As we drifted further and further away from God’s good will for us, He, Himself, broke open the heavens and came down, as a little child, to be one of us.

The one who formed us with his own hands, who breathed His breath of life into us, took on the form of man in order that he might live with us and that we might have whole and abundant life in Him.

Thanks be to God that our sins have been swept away by the blood of Jesus.

God's Peace – Pr. J

Thy Kingdom Come

The Lord's Prayer

The Second Petition.

Thy kingdom come.

What does this mean?--Answer.

The kingdom of God comes indeed without our prayer, of itself; but we pray in this petition that it may come unto us also.

How is this done?--Answer.
When our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead a godly life here in time and yonder in eternity.

(http://bookofconcord.org/smallcatechism.php)

By faith alone!

The kingdom of God has come and we, by faith, in our Lord, Jesus the Christ, are residents of that kingdom, even now.

Yes, we live in this world; but, all who believe also live in the kingdom and under the gracious rule of God our Father and the Lord Jesus the Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is such a grievous thing when God's own beloved children focus so much on the world and the support of the world that they cannot recognize that God is with them, even now. It is such a sad state that His own children refuse to recognize that we might live in the Kingdom of God, even now.

We pray that His Kingdom would come quite often. But, is the Kingdom or the world our heart's true desire? By many a Christian's words and actions the true state of our hearts is often seen by the world. Do we truly desire to have the Kingdom come into our lives or are we clinging ever so tightly to the world and it's ways?

The heavenly kingdom is not just for a time after physical death. When that temple curtain was ripped in half at the time of Jesus' death; the doors to the kingdom were flung wide open. The kingdom comes by the work of our Lord. May God help us to live in His kingdom; to live in His presence; beginning today and for all time.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Realm Of the Spirit; The Abiding Presence of Christ

Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.  (Rom 8:8-10 NIV)

We often hear that someone is going to heaven because they are such good people. The reality is that without Jesus none of us are good. We are only made righteous because of his sacrifice on the cross for us. Without faith in him and in the power of his blood, we cannot be made righteous. 

No matter how many good works one might strive to do, unless Christ abides in you, your good works will not please God. The Spirit of Christ is knocking at the door of your heart. God does not desire for anyone to be lost. Open the door! Let him in! Let the Spirit of Christ abide in you that the whole world might know of his love and his peace.

God's Peace - Pr. J 

To Know Him

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. Eph 1:17

That is the goal... that we might know Him better. Here is our Father in heaven. Here is the one who created us. Here is the one who saves us. Why would we not want to get to know Him better? The purpose of being reconciled to God our Father through the blood shed by our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ, is so that we can come before God's presence. It is so that we might walk with Him, not just in this world, but for all eternity. The gates to Paradise were closed. Humanity was exiled. But, now the gates to Paradise have been flung wide open. Your sins are forgiven. Enter into the Kingdom that has been prepared for you. Enter into His presence and get to know Him better. He is; after all, your Father in Heaven!

May God give to all the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that we might know Him and His good will for all people better.

God's Peace - Pr. J