Wondering Wednesday

   For  six months, Jesus had been telling His disciples that he would be dying soon.  On this Wednesday, He tells them it will happen in two days.  Jesus knew that this Passover celebration, He would be the Lamb whose blood would be shed to save the people.  Remember how God’s people put the blood of a lamb over their door posts to save them from dying?  Well, after this Passover the only blood that would count would be the blood Jesus shed.  From then on, anyone that believed in Jesus, and accepted Him would be able to live with Him in Heaven.  Although Jesus had been telling them about all of this, He never really said when it would happen.  Now, He tells them it would be in two days, on the Passover.  Jesus would be the once and for all, Passover Lamb.

   The chief priest's, scribes and religious leaders realized they would never be able to trick, Jesus.  So, they all got together at the high priest's house to plan and plot how to capture Jesus secretly, and just kill Him.  The high priest's name was, Caiaphas.  By this time many thousands of people were going into Jerusalem.  That was a problem for these evil men that plotted to kill, Jesus.  Earlier in the week, they were concerned about the people being upset with them for arresting Jesus and killing Him.  But now, there were thousands of people they were worried about upsetting, especially since it was their Passover celebration.  They knew Jesus was not going to be giving them a reason to arrest Him.  If the people got very upset, the Roman government would stop these religious leaders from arresting and killing Jesus.  But, these evil men were determined to see Jesus destroyed.

   We can not be sure of just what Jesus did on this Wednesday before the Passover, because the Bible does not say.  Jesus most likely went to the temple again to teach and heal.  He probably spent time in prayer.  He may have taken a walk with Mary and Martha and reassured them that no matter what happened He would always be with them.  He may have spent some time with His very dear friend, Mary Magdalene, assuring her that no matter what happened, she would see Him again.  He probably talked with His disciples about those things He wanted to be sure they heard.  Maybe He tried to tell them in words what only the cross was going to show them for sure... just how much He loved them.  Maybe He told them just how precious they were to Him.  Maybe He talked privately with Peter and reassured Him that no matter what happened He would would always love and forgive him.  Maybe He told Peter he was much stronger than he thought and to never be afraid.  Maybe He walked to where the dead Fig tree was and prayed to God about the people that would be destroyed if they would not say they were sorry for their sins and accept Jesus as their Savior.  Maybe He talked to the people about forgiveness and love, and how important those things are to God’s Kingdom.  But, whatever Jesus did do during that day, He was doing what God wanted Him to do because He always did the work of His Heavenly Father.

   But, we do know what Jesus did that evening.  That evening,  Jesus was back in Bethany, having dinner at a man named Simon’s house.  The people back then ate at table that was low to the floor. They sat on the floor and often reclined back a little.  Meals were a time of getting together with family and friends that they loved and trusted. Although meals were a time to eat, they were really more about a time to meet, fellowship.  Jesus was reclined back and enjoying His disciples at this dinner meal at Simon’s house.  While having His dinner, a woman came in with an alabaster jar filled with perfumed oil.  She broke the long neck of the alabaster jar and  slowly poured it on Jesus’ head.  Back in the Old Testament it was a sacred thing to pour expensive oil like this on a man's head.  It meant he was being set aside from all of the other people to be holy and to be the priest.  This woman was showing that Jesus was holy, and that He was their Priest.  She also did this because she understood what Jesus was talking about when He said He would be dying in two days.  Back in this day, they put oil and spices on a persons body to bury them.  This woman loved Jesus.  She did for Him what she could, and what she knew God wanted her to do.  She was brave to do this.  Her love for Jesus caused her to be brave and obedient.  This time, many of the disciples were upset at such extravagance.  They were upset about how expensive the perfumed oil was and that it was wasted.  They said it could have been sold for a lot of money and the money could have been given to the poor.  Jesus asked His disciples why they were giving this woman such a hard time.  He told them that the poor would always be with them, but that He would be leaving in two days.  Jesus told them that she did a good thing, that she prepared his body for His soon to be burial.  He told them that anytime the Good News would be preached about Jesus throughout the whole world, this woman's good deed would be remembered and talked about.

   Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus disciples and their treasurer,  was angry about this the Saturday night before, and now it happened again.  He was furious.  He wanted the money from the perfume for himself.   Judas knew the religious leaders were at the high priest Caiaphas’ house trying to figure out a way to kill Jesus.   Judas left the dinner and went straight to Caiaphas’ house.  He also knew they would like to be able to capture Jesus secretly to have Him killed.  But, where Jesus was there were always so many people and they would not get a chance to snatch Him.  But,  Judas also knew Jesus’ plans for the next two days and he knew how  and when the religious leaders could sneak up and capture Him when He would be alone with just His disciples.  When Judas got to Caiaphas’ house, he asked the religious leaders how much money they would give him if He double crossed Jesus and told them when they could capture Him.  They paid Judas 30 pieces of silver.  This is the amount slaves were bought and sold for.  For 30 lousy pieces of silver, Judas sold Jesus to the men that wanted to kill Him.

   Today we can wonder,  just what Jesus did do?  What we do know is that Jesus was betrayed by one of His own disciples, sold to those trying to kill him for a fist full of silver.

   Thank You Jesus that Your life is hidden in the Father's and that because of Your great love for us, we are hidden "in" Him as well!

Day of Authority!

   Last night Jesus went back to Bethany where his dear friends Mary, Martha and Lazarus lived to eat and spend the night. This morning all those years ago while Jesus walked out of Bethany He was hungry. He saw a fig tree with leaves on it. A Fig tree is different than other fruit trees, the figs bloom before the leaves appear.  If a Fig tree has leaves , it should have fruit.  This Fig tree had lots of leaves, and no fruit. Like other times Jesus used things the people could relate to and understand, He used this Fig tree to teach the disciples something very important. His time was at hand and He wanted to teach them everything they would need to know when He left at the end of the week. Jesus said to the Fig tree, “May you never bear fruit again!”   When the disciples saw the fig tree withered and dead the next morning they were perplexed and asked Jesus about this. They had seen Jesus heal the sick, make the blind to see, the deaf to hear and the lame walk.  They had seen Him raise Jairus’ daughter, a widows son and Lazarus from the dead.  All that was very amazing indeed!  But, they had never seen Jesus curse anything.  This made a big impact on the them. When  Jesus spoke to them about the Fig tree, He was using it to show His disciples how the people of Israel were behaving, well - misbehaving.  They looked like they were doing right and were living for God, but they did not accept God’s Son,  Jesus.  They were fake.   Jesus was showing them that religious pretenders did not and would not ever bear fruit.  Just like the fake and fruitless Fig tree, these people were cursed. They knew He was very serious about the lesson He was teaching them.  The disciples did not want to be empty and fake on the inside and only pretending to be living for God on the outside.  They would listen very carefully from now on to everything Jesus had to say.  Then, they would do what He said.  They wanted to be good men that Jesus could call His friend.   

   But, so like Jesus it did not stop there. Jesus told them something that is great news for us still today that believe Him and have made Him Lord of our lives. He told the disciples that if they really have faith in God, and would not doubt Him or His Word, they could do things like this and more.  If it is God’s will, we can have whatever we ask for.  We have to know what God says we can have, and we can find that in our Bible.  All we have to do is just believe what God says is true, ask for it and receive it.  That is how we receive salvation and everything else from God. What wonderful news!!!!!!!  Jesus was telling the disciples that the authority He had, they would have too.  He was going to leave that power with them, with us. It is the power from the victory we will see at the end of the week. Tonight Jesus will go back to the Mount of Olives and sleep.  That is where He went to stay when He had to get out of the public’s eye after He had raised Lazarus from being dead.  He knows this night is one He must get rest because tomorrow will hold much for Him to do.

   Thank you Father for the patience you showed us through Your Son Jesus with every parable and lesson You taught us!

Wondering Wednesday

   For  six months, Jesus had been telling His disciples that he would be dying soon.  On this Wednesday, He tells them it will happen in two days.  Jesus knew that this Passover celebration, He would be the Lamb whose blood would be shed to save the people.  Remember how God’s people put the blood of a lamb over their door posts to save them from dying?  Well, after this Passover the only blood that would count would be the blood Jesus shed.  From then on, anyone that believed in Jesus, and accepted Him would be able to live with Him in Heaven.  Although Jesus had been telling them about all of this, He never really said when it would happen.  Now, He tells them it would be in two days, on the Passover.  Jesus would be the once and for all, Passover Lamb.

   The chief priest's, scribes and religious leaders realized they would never be able to trick, Jesus.  So, they all got together at the high priest's house to plan and plot how to capture Jesus secretly, and just kill Him.  The high priest's name was, Caiaphas.  By this time many thousands of people were going into Jerusalem.  That was a problem for these evil men that plotted to kill, Jesus.  Earlier in the week, they were concerned about the people being upset with them for arresting Jesus and killing Him.  But now, there were thousands of people they were worried about upsetting, especially since it was their Passover celebration.  They knew Jesus was not going to be giving them a reason to arrest Him.  If the people got very upset, the Roman government would stop these religious leaders from arresting and killing Jesus.  But, these evil men were determined to see Jesus destroyed.

   We can not be sure of just what Jesus did on this Wednesday before the Passover, because the Bible does not say.  Jesus most likely went to the temple again to teach and heal.  He probably spent time in prayer.  He may have taken a walk with Mary and Martha and reassured them that no matter what happened He would always be with them.  He may have spent some time with His very dear friend, Mary Magdalene, assuring her that no matter what happened, she would see Him again.  He probably talked with His disciples about those things He wanted to be sure they heard.  Maybe He tried to tell them in words what only the cross was going to show them for sure... just how much He loved them.  Maybe He told them just how precious they were to Him.  Maybe He talked privately with Peter and reassured Him that no matter what happened He would would always love and forgive him.  Maybe He told Peter he was much stronger than he thought and to never be afraid.  Maybe He walked to where the dead Fig tree was and prayed to God about the people that would be destroyed if they would not say they were sorry for their sins and accept Jesus as their Savior.  Maybe He talked to the people about forgiveness and love, and how important those things are to God’s Kingdom.  But, whatever Jesus did do during that day, He was doing what God wanted Him to do because He always did the work of His Heavenly Father.

   But, we do know what Jesus did that evening.  That evening,  Jesus was back in Bethany, having dinner at a man named Simon’s house.  The people back then ate at table that was low to the floor. They sat on the floor and often reclined back a little.  Meals were a time of getting together with family and friends that they loved and trusted. Although meals were a time to eat, they were really more about a time to meet, fellowship.  Jesus was reclined back and enjoying His disciples at this dinner meal at Simon’s house.  While having His dinner, a woman came in with an alabaster jar filled with perfumed oil.  She broke the long neck of the alabaster jar and  slowly poured it on Jesus’ head.  Back in the Old Testament it was a sacred thing to pour expensive oil like this on a man's head.  It meant he was being set aside from all of the other people to be holy and to be the priest.  This woman was showing that Jesus was holy, and that He was their Priest.  She also did this because she understood what Jesus was talking about when He said He would be dying in two days.  Back in this day, they put oil and spices on a persons body to bury them.  This woman loved Jesus.  She did for Him what she could, and what she knew God wanted her to do.  She was brave to do this.  Her love for Jesus caused her to be brave and obedient.  This time, many of the disciples were upset at such extravagance.  They were upset about how expensive the perfumed oil was and that it was wasted.  They said it could have been sold for a lot of money and the money could have been given to the poor.  Jesus asked His disciples why they were giving this woman such a hard time.  He told them that the poor would always be with them, but that He would be leaving in two days.  Jesus told them that she did a good thing, that she prepared his body for His soon to be burial.  He told them that anytime the Good News would be preached about Jesus throughout the whole world, this woman's good deed would be remembered and talked about.

   Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus disciples and their treasurer,  was angry about this the Saturday night before, and now it happened again.  He was furious.  He wanted the money from the perfume for himself.   Judas knew the religious leaders were at the high priest Caiaphas’ house trying to figure out a way to kill Jesus.   Judas left the dinner and went straight to Caiaphas’ house.  He also knew they would like to be able to capture Jesus secretly to have Him killed.  But, where Jesus was there were always so many people and they would not get a chance to snatch Him.  But,  Judas also knew Jesus’ plans for the next two days and he knew how  and when the religious leaders could sneak up and capture Him when He would be alone with just His disciples.  When Judas got to Caiaphas’ house, he asked the religious leaders how much money they would give him if He double crossed Jesus and told them when they could capture Him.  They paid Judas 30 pieces of silver.  This is the amount slaves were bought and sold for.  For 30 lousy pieces of silver, Judas sold Jesus to the men that wanted to kill Him.

   Today we can wonder,  just what Jesus did do?  What we do know is that Jesus was betrayed by one of His own disciples, sold to those trying to kill him for a fist full of silver.

   Thank You Jesus that Your life is hidden in the Father's and that because of Your great love for us, we are hidden "in" Him as well!

Day of Authority!

   Last night Jesus went back to Bethany where his dear friends Mary, Martha and Lazarus lived to eat and spend the night. This morning all those years ago while Jesus walked out of Bethany He was hungry. He saw a fig tree with leaves on it. A Fig tree is different than other fruit trees, the figs bloom before the leaves appear.  If a Fig tree has leaves , it should have fruit.  This Fig tree had lots of leaves, and no fruit. Like other times Jesus used things the people could relate to and understand, He used this Fig tree to teach the disciples something very important. His time was at hand and He wanted to teach them everything they would need to know when He left at the end of the week. Jesus said to the Fig tree, “May you never bear fruit again!”   When the disciples saw the fig tree withered and dead the next morning they were perplexed and asked Jesus about this. They had seen Jesus heal the sick, make the blind to see, the deaf to hear and the lame walk.  They had seen Him raise Jairus’ daughter, a widows son and Lazarus from the dead.  All that was very amazing indeed!  But, they had never seen Jesus curse anything.  This made a big impact on the them. When  Jesus spoke to them about the Fig tree, He was using it to show His disciples how the people of Israel were behaving, well - misbehaving.  They looked like they were doing right and were living for God, but they did not accept God’s Son,  Jesus.  They were fake.   Jesus was showing them that religious pretenders did not and would not ever bear fruit.  Just like the fake and fruitless Fig tree, these people were cursed. They knew He was very serious about the lesson He was teaching them.  The disciples did not want to be empty and fake on the inside and only pretending to be living for God on the outside.  They would listen very carefully from now on to everything Jesus had to say.  Then, they would do what He said.  They wanted to be good men that Jesus could call His friend.   

   But, so like Jesus it did not stop there. Jesus told them something that is great news for us still today that believe Him and have made Him Lord of our lives. He told the disciples that if they really have faith in God, and would not doubt Him or His Word, they could do things like this and more.  If it is God’s will, we can have whatever we ask for.  We have to know what God says we can have, and we can find that in our Bible.  All we have to do is just believe what God says is true, ask for it and receive it.  That is how we receive salvation and everything else from God. What wonderful news!!!!!!!  Jesus was telling the disciples that the authority He had, they would have too.  He was going to leave that power with them, with us. It is the power from the victory we will see at the end of the week. Tonight Jesus will go back to the Mount of Olives and sleep.  That is where He went to stay when He had to get out of the public’s eye after He had raised Lazarus from being dead.  He knows this night is one He must get rest because tomorrow will hold much for Him to do.

   Thank you Father for the patience you showed us through Your Son Jesus with every parable and lesson You taught us!

Wondering Wednesday

   For  six months, Jesus had been telling His disciples that he would be dying soon.  On this Wednesday, He tells them it will happen in two days.  Jesus knew that this Passover celebration, He would be the Lamb whose blood would be shed to save the people.  Remember how God’s people put the blood of a lamb over their door posts to save them from dying?  Well, after this Passover the only blood that would count would be the blood Jesus shed.  From then on, anyone that believed in Jesus, and accepted Him would be able to live with Him in Heaven.  Although Jesus had been telling them about all of this, He never really said when it would happen.  Now, He tells them it would be in two days, on the Passover.  Jesus would be the once and for all, Passover Lamb.

   The chief priest's, scribes and religious leaders realized they would never be able to trick, Jesus.  So, they all got together at the high priest's house to plan and plot how to capture Jesus secretly, and just kill Him.  The high priest's name was, Caiaphas.  By this time many thousands of people were going into Jerusalem.  That was a problem for these evil men that plotted to kill, Jesus.  Earlier in the week, they were concerned about the people being upset with them for arresting Jesus and killing Him.  But now, there were thousands of people they were worried about upsetting, especially since it was their Passover celebration.  They knew Jesus was not going to be giving them a reason to arrest Him.  If the people got very upset, the Roman government would stop these religious leaders from arresting and killing Jesus.  But, these evil men were determined to see Jesus destroyed.

   We can not be sure of just what Jesus did on this Wednesday before the Passover, because the Bible does not say.  Jesus most likely went to the temple again to teach and heal.  He probably spent time in prayer.  He may have taken a walk with Mary and Martha and reassured them that no matter what happened He would always be with them.  He may have spent some time with His very dear friend, Mary Magdalene, assuring her that no matter what happened, she would see Him again.  He probably talked with His disciples about those things He wanted to be sure they heard.  Maybe He tried to tell them in words what only the cross was going to show them for sure... just how much He loved them.  Maybe He told them just how precious they were to Him.  Maybe He talked privately with Peter and reassured Him that no matter what happened He would would always love and forgive him.  Maybe He told Peter he was much stronger than he thought and to never be afraid.  Maybe He walked to where the dead Fig tree was and prayed to God about the people that would be destroyed if they would not say they were sorry for their sins and accept Jesus as their Savior.  Maybe He talked to the people about forgiveness and love, and how important those things are to God’s Kingdom.  But, whatever Jesus did do during that day, He was doing what God wanted Him to do because He always did the work of His Heavenly Father.

   But, we do know what Jesus did that evening.  That evening,  Jesus was back in Bethany, having dinner at a man named Simon’s house.  The people back then ate at table that was low to the floor. They sat on the floor and often reclined back a little.  Meals were a time of getting together with family and friends that they loved and trusted. Although meals were a time to eat, they were really more about the a time to meet.  Jesus was reclined back and enjoying His disciples at this dinner meal at Simon’s house.  While having His dinner, a woman came in with an alabaster jar filled with perfumed oil.  She broke the long neck of the alabaster jar and  slowly poured it on Jesus’ head.  Back in the Old Testament it was a sacred thing to pour expensive oil like this on a man's head.  It meant he was being set aside from all of the other people to be holy and to be the priest.  This woman was showing that Jesus was holy, and that He was their Priest.  She also did this because she understood what Jesus was talking about when He said He would be dying in two days.  Back in this day, they put oil and spices on a persons body to bury them.  This woman loved Jesus.  She did for Him what she could, and what she knew God wanted her to do.  She was brave to do this.  Her love for Jesus made her brave and obedient.  This time, many of the disciples were upset at such extravagance.  They were upset about how expensive the perfumed oil was and that it was wasted.  They said it could have been sold for a lot of money and the money could have been given to the poor.  Jesus asked His disciples why they were giving this woman such a hard time.  He told them that the poor would always be with them, but that He would be leaving in two days.  Jesus told them that she did a good thing, that she prepared his body for His soon to be burial.  He told them that anytime the Good News would be preached about Jesus throughout the whole world, this woman's good deed would be remembered and talked about.

   Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus disciples and their treasurer,  was angry about this the Saturday night before, and now it happened again.  He was furious.  He wanted the money from the perfume for himself.   Judas knew the religious leaders were at the high priest Caiaphas’ house trying to figure out a way to kill Jesus.   Judas left the dinner and went straight to Caiaphas’ house.  He also knew they would like to be able to capture Jesus secretly to have Him killed.  But, where Jesus was there were always so many people and they would not get a chance to snatch Him.  But,  Judas also knew Jesus’ plans for the next two days and he knew how  and when the religious leaders could sneak up and capture Him when He would be alone with just His disciples.  When Judas got to Caiaphas’ house, he asked the religious leaders how much money they would give him if He double crossed Jesus and told them when they could capture Him.  They paid Judas 30 pieces of silver.  This is the amount slaves were bought and sold for.  For 30 lousy pieces of silver, Judas sold Jesus to the men that wanted to kill Him.

   Today we can wonder,  just what Jesus did do?  What we do know is that Jesus was betrayed by one of His own disciples, sold to those trying to kill him for a fist full of silver.

   Thank You Jesus that Your life is hidden in the Father's and that because of Your great love for us, we are hidden "in" Him as well!

Day of Authority

   Last night Jesus went back to Bethany where his dear friend Mary, Martha and Lazarus lived to eat and spend the night. This morning all those years ago while Jesus walked out of Bethany He was hungry. He saw a fig tree with leaves on it. A Fig tree is different than other fruit trees, the figs bloom before the leaves appear.  If a Fig tree has leaves , it should have fruit.  This Fig tree had lots of leaves, and no fruit. Like other times Jesus used things the people could relate to and understand, He used this Fig tree to teach the disciples something very important. His time was at hand and He wanted to teach them everything they would need to know when He left at the end of the week. Jesus said to the Fig tree, “May you never bear fruit again!”   When the disciples saw the fig tree withered and dead the next morning they were perplexed and asked Jesus about this. They had seen Jesus heal the sick, make the blind to see, the deaf to hear and the lame walk.  They had seen Him raise Jairus’ daughter, a widows son and Lazarus from the dead.  All that was very amazing indeed!  But, they had never seen Jesus curse anything.  This made a big impact on the them. When  Jesus spoke to them about the Fig tree, He was using it to show His disciples how the people of Israel were behaving, well - misbehaving.  They looked like they were doing right and were living for God, but they did not accept God’s Son,  Jesus.  They were fake.   Jesus was showing them that religious pretenders did not and would not ever bear fruit.  Just like the fake and fruitless Fig tree, these people were cursed. They knew He was very serious about the lesson He was teaching them.  The disciples did not want to be empty and fake on the inside and only pretending to be living for God on the outside.  They would listen very carefully from now on to everything Jesus had to say.  Then, they would do what He said.  They wanted to be good men that Jesus could call His friend.   

   But, so like Jesus it did not stop there. Jesus told them something that is great news for us still today that believe Him and have made Him Lord of our lives. He told the disciples that if they really have faith in God, and would not doubt Him or His Word, they could do things like this and more.  If it is God’s will, we can have whatever we ask for.  We have to know what God says we can have, and we can find that in our Bible.  All we have to do is just believe what God says is true, ask for it and receive it.  That is how we receive salvation and everything else from God. What wonderful news!!!!!!!  Jesus was telling the disciples that the authority He had, they would have too.  He was going to leave that power with them, with us. It is the power from the victory we will see at the end of the week. Tonight Jesus will go back to the Mount of Olives and sleep.  That is where He went to stay when He had to get out of the public’s eye after He had raised Lazarus from being dead.  He knows this night is one He must get rest because tomorrow will hold much for Him to do.

   Thank you Father for the patience you showed us through Your Son Jesus with every parable and lesson You taught us!

Embrace who God created YOU to be!!!

   I have never done a post that the whole purpose was to send you to a blog post of another blogger. I am very excited to tell you that is exactly what this post is meant to do. My mother died with the music in her, literally. Graveyards are so full of potential that could have been a blessing to others, and beautiful life for the one now gone. I determined years ago I would not let that be the case with me. However, though I have gone back to school and done well, I essentially am doing just that. The woman that penned this article also recommended people read Crash the Chatterbox, written by Steven Furtick. I have that book and am reading it. So far it is a great read, and I suspect will prove to be life changing for me personally.

   This article I am sharing with you here is the most practical and encouraging reading I have done in, well,  I can not remember how long. The points this author shares from her heart need to be applied to our lives. God created each of us with specific gifts, talents and purpose. We are each unique and need to follow the Holy Spirit in how we live of lives. We need to know what our gifts, talents and purpose are, and operate in them, and do so unapologetically. I can not preach that sermon because I am on a journey to discover those things. That journey is causing me to break those rigid molds that have constrained me. Crash the Chatterbox is helping me with that! The blog post I share with you here is not about that book, but it dovetails so I shared it with you.

   Thank you, Jennifer! Your article is amazing and I am going to share it here.

Wondering Wednesday

    For  six months, Jesus had been telling His disciples that he would be dying soon.  On this Wednesday, He tells them it will happen in two days.  Jesus knew that this Passover celebration, He would be the Lamb whose blood would be shed to save the people.  Remember how God’s people put the blood of a lamb over their door posts to save them from dying?  Well, after this Passover the only blood that would count would be the blood Jesus shed.  From then on, anyone that believed in Jesus, and accepted Him would be able to live with Him in Heaven.  Although Jesus had been telling them about all of this, He never really said when it would happen.  Now, He tells them it would be in two days, on the Passover.  Jesus would be the once and for all, Passover Lamb.

   The chief priest's, scribes and religious leaders realized they would never be able to trick, Jesus.  So, they all got together at the high priest's house to plan and plot how to capture Jesus secretly, and just kill Him.  The high priest's name was, Caiaphas.  By this time many thousands of people were going into Jerusalem.  That was a problem for these evil men that plotted to kill, Jesus.  Earlier in the week, they were concerned about the people being upset with them for arresting Jesus and killing Him.  But now, there were thousands of people they were worried about upsetting, especially since it was their Passover celebration.  They knew Jesus was not going to be giving them a reason to arrest Him.  If the people got very upset, the Roman government would stop these religious leaders from arresting and killing Jesus.  But, these evil men were determined to see Jesus destroyed.

   We can not be sure of just what Jesus did on this Wednesday before the Passover, because the Bible does not say.  Jesus most likely went to the temple again to teach and heal.  He probably spent time in prayer.  He may have taken a walk with Mary and Martha and reassured them that no matter what happened He would always be with them.  He may have spent some time with His very dear friend, Mary Magdalene, assuring her that no matter what happened, she would see Him again.  He probably talked with His disciples about those things He wanted to be sure they heard.  Maybe He tried to tell them in words what only the cross was going to show them for sure... just how much He loved them.  Maybe He told them just how precious they were to Him.  Maybe He talked privately with Peter and reassured Him that no matter what happened He would would always love and forgive him.  Maybe He told Peter he was much stronger than he thought and to never be afraid.  Maybe He walked to where the dead Fig tree was and prayed to God about the people that would be destroyed if they would not say they were sorry for their sins and accept Jesus as their Savior.  Maybe He talked to the people about forgiveness and love, and how important those things are to God’s Kingdom.  But, whatever Jesus did do during that day, He was doing what God wanted Him to do because He always did the work of His Heavenly Father.

   But, we do know what Jesus did that evening.  That evening,  Jesus was back in Bethany, having dinner at a man named Simon’s house.  The people back then ate at table that was low to the floor. They sat on the floor and often reclined back a little.  Meals were a time of getting together with family and friends that they loved and trusted. Although meals were a time to eat, they were really more about the a time to meet.  Jesus was reclined back and enjoying His disciples at this dinner meal at Simon’s house.  While having His dinner, a woman came in with an alabaster jar filled with perfumed oil.  She broke the long neck of the alabaster jar and  slowly poured it on Jesus’ head.  Back in the Old Testament it was a sacred thing to pour expensive oil like this on a man's head.  It meant he was being set aside from all of the other people to be holy and to be the priest.  This woman was showing that Jesus was holy, and that He was their Priest.  She also did this because she understood what Jesus was talking about when He said He would be dying in two days.  Back in this day, they put oil and spices on a persons body to bury them.  This woman loved Jesus.  She did for Him what she could, and what she knew God wanted her to do.  She was brave to do this.  Her love for Jesus made her brave and obedient.  This time, many of the disciples were upset at such extravagance.  They were upset about how expensive the perfumed oil was and that it was wasted.  They said it could have been sold for a lot of money and the money could have been given to the poor.  Jesus asked His disciples why they were giving this woman such a hard time.  He told them that the poor would always be with them, but that He would be leaving in two days.  Jesus told them that she did a good thing, that she prepared his body for His soon to be burial.  He told them that anytime the Good News would be preached about Jesus throughout the whole world, this woman's good deed would be remembered and talked about.

   Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus disciples and their treasurer,  was angry about this the Saturday night before, and now it happened again.  He was furious.  He wanted the money from the perfume for himself.   Judas knew the religious leaders were at the high priest Caiaphas’ house trying to figure out a way to kill Jesus.   Judas left the dinner and went straight to Caiaphas’ house.  He also knew they would like to be able to capture Jesus secretly to have Him killed.  But, where Jesus was there were always so many people and they would not get a chance to snatch Him.  But,  Judas also knew Jesus’ plans for the next two days and he knew how  and when the religious leaders could sneak up and capture Him when He would be alone with just His disciples.  When Judas got to Caiaphas’ house, he asked the religious leaders how much money they would give him if He double crossed Jesus and told them when they could capture Him.  They paid Judas 30 pieces of silver.  This is the amount slaves were bought and sold for.  For 30 lousy pieces of silver, Judas sold Jesus to the men that wanted to kill Him.

   Today we can wonder,  just what Jesus did do?  What we do know is that Jesus was betrayed by one of His own disciples, sold to those trying to kill him for a fist full of silver.

   Thank You Jesus that Your life is hidden in the Father's and that because of Your great love for us, we are hidden "in" Him as well!

Day of Authority

   Last night Jesus went back to Bethany where his dear friend Mary, Martha and Lazarus lived to eat and spend the night. This morning all those years ago while Jesus walked out of Bethany He was hungry. He saw a fig tree with leaves on it. A Fig tree is different than other fruit trees, the figs bloom before the leaves appear.  If a Fig tree has leaves , it should have fruit.  This Fig tree had lots of leaves, and no fruit. Like other times Jesus used things the people could relate to and understand, He used this Fig tree to teach the disciples something very important. His time was at hand and He wanted to teach them everything they would need to know when He left at the end of the week. Jesus said to the Fig tree, “May you never bear fruit again!”   When the disciples saw the fig tree withered and dead the next morning they were perplexed and asked Jesus about this. They had seen Jesus heal the sick, make the blind to see, the deaf to hear and the lame walk.  They had seen Him raise Jairus’ daughter, a widows son and Lazarus from the dead.  All that was very amazing indeed!  But, they had never seen Jesus curse anything.  This made a big impact on the them. When  Jesus spoke to them about the Fig tree, He was using it to show His disciples how the people of Israel were behaving, well - misbehaving.  They looked like they were doing right and were living for God, but they did not accept God’s Son,  Jesus.  They were fake.   Jesus was showing them that religious pretenders did not and would not ever bear fruit.  Just like the fake and fruitless Fig tree, these people were cursed. They knew He was very serious about the lesson He was teaching them.  The disciples did not want to be empty and fake on the inside and only pretending to be living for God on the outside.  They would listen very carefully from now on to everything Jesus had to say.  Then, they would do what He said.  They wanted to be good men that Jesus could call His friend.   

   But, so like Jesus it did not stop there. Jesus told them something that is great news for us still today that believe Him and have made Him Lord of our lives. He told the disciples that if they really have faith in God, and would not doubt Him or His Word, they could do things like this and more.  If it is God’s will, we can have whatever we ask for.  We have to know what God says we can have, and we can find that in our Bible.  All we have to do is just believe what God says is true, ask for it and receive it.  That is how we receive salvation and everything else from God. What wonderful news!!!!!!!  Jesus was telling the disciples that the authority He had, they would have too.  He was going to leave that power with them, with us. It is the power from the victory we will see at the end of the week. Tonight Jesus will go back to the Mount of Olives and sleep.  That is where He went to stay when He had to get out of the public’s eye after He had raised Lazarus from being dead.  He knows this night is one He must get rest because tomorrow will hold much for Him to do.

   Thank you Father for the patience you showed us through Your Son Jesus with every parable and lesson You taught us!

Friends can be such a blessing!

   I received an email from a dear friend this morning that was encouraging, inspiring and for me ~ timely. This was one of those emails that implore you to send it on. I rarely do that, but this is most deserving of being shared. I believe this will truly lift you up.

       THIS WILL TRULY LIFT YOU UP SPIRITUALLY. 

 ENJOY & BELIEVE. 

“It shall come to pass

That before they call, I will answer;

And while they are still speaking, I will hear.

Isaiah 65:24

This is a story written by a doctor who worked in Africa .  

   One night I had worked hard to help a mother in the labor ward; but in spite of all we could do, she died, leaving us with a tiny, premature baby and a crying two-year-old daughter. We would have difficulty keeping the baby alive; as we had no incubator (we had no electricity to run an incubator).

   We also had no special feeding facilities. Although we lived on the equator, nights were often chilly with treacherous drafts. One student midwife went for the box we had for such babies and the cotton wool that the baby would be wrapped in.  

   Another went to stoke up the fire and fill a hot water bottle. She came back shortly in distress to tell me that in filling the bottle, it had burst (rubber perishes easily in tropical climates). 'And it is our last hot water bottle!' she exclaimed. As in the West, it is no good crying over spilled milk, so in  Central Africa  it might be considered no good crying over burst water bottles. They do not grow on trees, and there are no drugstores down forest pathways.

   'All right,' I said, 'put the baby as near the fire as you safely can, and sleep between the baby and the door to keep it free from drafts Your job is to keep the baby warm.'

   The following noon, as I did most days, I went to have prayers with any of the orphanage children who chose to gather with me. I gave the youngsters various suggestions of things to pray about and told them about the tiny baby. I explained our problem about keeping the baby warm enough, mentioning the hot water bottle, and that the baby could so easily die if it got chills. I also told them of the two-year-old sister, crying because her mother had died.

   During prayer time, one ten -year-old girl, Ruth, prayed with the usual blunt conciseness of our African children. 'Please, God,' she prayed, 'send us a hot water bottle today. It'll be no good tomorrow, God, as the baby will be dead, so please send it this afternoon.'
While I gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she added, 'And while You are about it, would You please send a dolly for the little girl so she'll know You really love her?'

   As often with children's prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I honestly say 'Amen?' I just did not believe that God could do this.

   Oh, yes, I know that He can do everything; the Bible says so. But there are limits, aren't there? The only way God could answer this particular prayer would be by sending me a parcel from the homeland. I had been in   Africa   for almost four years at that time, and I had never, ever, received a parcel from home. Anyway, if anyone did send me a parcel, who would put in a hot water bottle? I lived on the equator!

   Halfway through the afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses' training school, a message was sent that there was a car at my front door. By the time I reached home, the car had gone, but there on the verandah was a large 22-pound parcel. I felt tears pricking my eyes. I could not open the parcel alone, so I sent for the orphanage children. Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing each knot. We folded the paper, taking care not to tear it unduly. Excitement was mounting. Some thirty or forty pairs of eyes were focused on the large cardboard box. From the top, I lifted out brightly-colored, knitted jerseys. Eyes sparkled as I gave them out. Then there were the knitted bandages for the leprosy patients, and the children looked a little bored. Then came a box of mixed raisins and sultanas - that would make a batch of buns for the weekend.

   Then, as I put my hand in again, I felt the.....could it really be? I grasped it and pulled it out. Yes, a brand new, rubber hot water bottle. I cried. I had not asked God to send it; I had not truly believed that He could.

   Ruth was in the front row of the children. She rushed forward, crying out, 'If God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly, too!' Rummaging down to the bottom of the box, she pulled out the small, beautifully-dressed dolly. Her eyes shone! She had never doubted! Looking up at me, she asked, 'Can I go over with you and give this dolly to that little girl, so she'll know that Jesus really loves her?' 'Of course,' I replied!

That parcel had been on the way for five whole months, packed up by my former Sunday school class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God's prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator.
And one of the girls had put in a dolly for an African child - five months before, in answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old to bring it 'that afternoon.'

'Before they call, I will answer.' Isaiah 65:24 

   Prayer is one of the best free gifts we receive. There is no cost, but a lot of rewards. Let's continue praying for one another.

Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless my friends reading this. I ask You to minister to them. Where there is pain, help them to receive and walk in Your peace and mercy. Where there is self doubting, help them to walk in renewed confidence so You can work through them; where there is tiredness or exhaustion, I ask they seek and receive Your understanding, guidance, and strength. Where there is fear, reveal Your love in a way they can receive the vastness of it, and be of good courage. Thank you for blessing their finances, give them greater vision, and raise up leaders and friends to support and encourage them.  I ask You to do these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

P. S. Passing this on to anyone you consider a friend will bless you both. 

Passing this on to one not considered a friend is something Christ would do.

   As most of you know Jon and I are earnestly seeking God for a decision about our future. In the natural several really good opportunities have presented themselves. We stopped putting square pegs in round holes years ago. We learned that one the hard way, more than once. We had been praying for Him to lead us and show us where He wants us, and what He wants us to be doing.We have been pressing in, taking time in His Word and listening. We are now asking God to show us the desire He has placed in our heart. Recently we have been seeing things in His Word as we have never seen them before; things helpful for seeking God for His plan for your life. We have begun to have some break through there. Reading this email this morning reminded me of three things. 1. God heard our prayer in the beginning, remembers it, and hears our prayer now. 2. We do not need to pray for direction over and over. The answer was on the way when first we prayed Now we need to stay fine tuned to Him and walk closely with Him, simply thanking Him for His plan and that He is showing us. 3. We need to have the expectant faith this young girl had. Walking closely with Him and keeping our eyes and heart fixed on Him will empower us to effortlessly do just that.    

    This was the most timely email I have ever received.

I will close this with my response to the dear friend that sent this on to me.

Oh my darling, Gilly!!! if only you knew how timely this was, this very morning. I don't usually pass on email; this one I will. Thank you for sending this to me. I too want the intimate relationship with God this young girl had. I want to be as keen a vessel as that Sunday School teacher, hearing and obeying my Father. I desperately desire the innocence of trust in Him that pleases Him, unadulterated faith.

Much love,
Teresa

Patience

   God is so good, and patient. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering [patient], and abounding in goodness and truth...  Exodus 34:6-7. From the beginning of time all He has wanted to do was have people to bless and love on. His mercy, patience and love toward us is everlasting, and it is not contingent on us. He made a covenant with Abraham when he was still Abram, He made a covenant with David that insured his seed, descendent, would be on the throne of Israel and that came to pass even though David messed up badly. And though we sin we remain the righteousness of God through Jesus and all of the covenant, Old and New is ours. We can have faith in God because His Word to us is true.  Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Proverbs 30:5 God and His Word are unchangeable.

His word endures forever.

1 Peter 1:25

But the word of the Lord endures forever.” Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.

In Psalm 136 it says God’s mercy endures forever twenty~six times alone, and there are at least twenty~one more times that is mentioned in the Old Testament alone. 

1 Chronicles 16:34

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.

His righteousness endures forever.

Psalm 112:19

He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever; His horn will be exalted with honor. 

   His covenant with Abraham, Noah, David and through Jesus are all everlasting. And He will never leave or forsake us. God had to deal with nearly 4,000 years of stiff necked and rebellious people in the Old Testament. He sent prophets and mighty men of God to try and get them to be in a relationship with Him. Finally, after Malachi we see 400 years of silence. The next thing we see is Matthew, and God sent Jesus. God waited 30 years before He had Jesus step out into official ministry. The we see rebellion and religion at its worst through the leaders of Israel, the scribes, Sadducees and Pharisees. Even that does not stop God. He made a covenant with man and his longsuffering was going to remain, and prevail. He pays the price for all the people in the world that He loved so dearly with His own Son, Jesus. Since the resurrection of Jesus we still see rebellion, religion, stiff necks and hard hearts. And yet in His longsuffering for us He has given us the Holy Spirit for our comfort and guidance. God is patient. 

   I know there are a number of definitions out there for the word "patience", but I have one I live by and think it is accurate and powerful. Being patient does not mean gritting our teeth, holding our tongue and white knuckling it through a situation. But it absolutely has do with how we conduct ourselves while we go through something. Here is my very simple definition, Patience is behaving the same in bad times as we do in the good times. There is only one way to do that and certainly only one way to do that through any situation for a length of time. The only way to do that is to constantly cultivate patience in our life and do so with the deliberate guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Let’s take a look at 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. That happens to be from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. If I had chosen the Amplified version you would have seen that passage begin in verse 4 with,  Love endures long and  is patient and kind;. The last words in verse 7 would have been, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]. God is love and later in Chapter 13 of Corinthians you see that love never fails. God being love will always be longsuffering and patient with us!

   When you take iron you should take vitamin C with it because the C causes the iron to assimilate in our bodies so much better. Faith and patience are much the same. We can know God's Word, know how to pray in the Spirit, know how to watch what we say with out mouths ~ watching to not speak contrary to God's Word, but if we want results, patience needs to be present. Faith is a powerful force but when an answer is not coming as quickly as we would like, and natural circumstances start dictating defeat, often people start talking negatively against the very Word of God and the promise(s) they started standing on in the beginning. Next thing you know their actions follow and they give up. Patience is what supports, reinforces and sustains our faith for the long haul. Our patience holds our faith up when when our flesh goes to war with us, and our soul becomes weak and wants to let go of our faith. Hebrews tells us that those who trust in God with faith and patience, inherit the promises. And James brings it home for us when he says in James 1:4, But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. There it is, the promise that tells us if we will let patience be fully developed in us and do the work of endurance in us, we will be without defect and so be perfect, and lack nothing. Patience is a very powerful force that we need to give attention to.

   I knew as a young girl God wanted to use me in a way that was going to require devotion to Him and honestly was the only thing that would bring me peace and fulfillment. I will leave all the details out of this post that took me off track. I will start up in my twenties when I was ready to be serious with God. I was in my living room, children napping, and reading my Bible. I came across this verse.

And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient,  2 Timothy 2:24 

   Not being given to process but being a goal oriented person, some of the clauses in that verse presented me with.... um challenges.  But I had made God's Word the final authority in my life, and whatever it said, I had committed to do. So I had to do some DNA surgery on myself, and renew my mind with God's Word in those areas, and then let the Holy Spirit mold me. That was one of the best things I have ever done for myself. I learned so much about prioritizing, simplifying things and taking my hands off of situations. Oh... this took a few years so you know. Praise God He is patient. But at the end of that season God had me where I needed to be to get through things that were coming in my life and to be the handmaiden in His Kingdom I wanted to be.

   One of the many things that were to come along was going to be a season with one of my daughters. Being able to minister the Word of God and my family are the two most important things to me. So, I guess it is no surprise that through them I learn so well. She was and adult, over eighteen, nearly done with her post secondary education and doing things that were concerning me right into a horrible state. I had faith in God to fulfill all the promises in His Word regarding children that I was standing on, but I knew she had her own free will. Those days were some of the darkest of my life. I was at a five point intersection when God dropped the verse in James 1:4 into my heart. I had to go to the grocery parking lot on the other side of the intersection because that verse flooded my heart with hope and washed over me in such a powerful way I did not want to drive for a few minutes. I knew God was telling me if I would just keep standing on His Word and trust Him, I would see those promises come true. It got better soon after that and though there were years of her not being just where I wanted see her, :-) , she is now, and has been for some time, in a great church with her children and husband. I am always amazed at how God has redeemed the years in her life. Her love for God and amount of revelation knowledge is nothing short of amazing. I lack nothing where she is concerned! She did come back to her borders, God did teach her and great is her peace. She is such an amazing woman. I am blessed that God allowed me to call her daughter.

   I have cultivated God's Word in my life, and I have purposefully worked at developing the Fruit of the Spirit of God into who I am. I can tell you there is nothing that compares to that kind of walk with our Father.

Is there an area in your life that could use a little more patience? Patience is not that dreaded thing people say to never pray for. That is so like the enemy to try to shove that show off on God's people. Colossians 3:12 says, So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.... Paul tells us to "put on" patience. Patience is something we must deliberately and on purpose choose to do. Remember, patience is acting the same in bad times as we do in good times. Is there something in your life right now that you could take advantage of by using it as an opportunity to act in a kind and gentle manner, even when you feel like turning your emotions loose?

And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through

 faith and patience inherit the promises.

Hebrews 6:11-12

I am done doing it "my way".

This is what greeted me this lovely Sunday morning when I opened my front door to walk, Baxter.

     Last August I spiraled down to the most frustrated I have ever been. You can get more about that here if you like. The frustration I battled was invading every area of my life. Once I came to grips with the reason behind the resistance to follow God, and decided to follow the leading He put in my heart, I had peace and felt for the first time in such a long time like life had come back to me. I had been familiar with Proverbs 13:12, well at least the first half of it. This pivotal point in my life brought the second half of this wonderful verse to life (no pun intended) to me.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.  Proverbs 13:12

A little side note here. I do want to stop for a brief moment and say I know some look at the word “desire” as our own personal aspirations and dreams. Most of us are familiar with Psalm 37:4;

Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. 

Delight means to have a great degree of pleasure of enjoyment. It involves happiness, gladness, to relish something and contentment. We must be in that state in our relationship with the Lord for the desire of our heart to see fruition. Why? Because when we walk that close to the Lord, He puts His calling, His desire in us. 

...that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power... Ephesians 1:17-19

And when we are that close to Him that we will obey, He makes that desire a reality.

That is one of those bless me verses we like to grab and hold onto. We love the part  where God will give us the desires of our heart. I spent many years in a singles group and along with the verse that says it is not good for man to live alone, 

And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”  Genesis 2:18,

this one about getting your desires ranked number one.  I personally liked and still like the one that says:

...that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD. Deuteronomy 8:3b  

     I am rambling. My point here is that the first part of Psalm 37:4 is crucial to see the second part manifested. We must “Delight ourselves in the LORD, first. 

So, I began Bible college. I was at a place where stepping out in faith and obeying became the only desire of my heart. Peace and life were a result. Remember how the Jewish nation would be blessed and then would start trying to figure things out on their own?  Well, that day I stepped out truly was pivotal and I have not recessed back to that frustration but have moved forward. God began putting on my heart the next level of my pursuing His calling and so I started reasoning, researching and slightly recessing my way back to frustration. Last Thursday I put a principle of God's kingdom into my life.

   Prayer. I am not going to go into a lot of detail here but just let me say I have always been intrigued by the what Paul said in 1Thessalonians 5:16-18;

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

I now have a better understanding on that verse. For some time I have understood we don't thank God for everything, we thank Him in everything. But after some amazing lectures this term, I have received a much clearer, well I have received revelation on what the "without ceasing" and "in everything give thanks" and "rejoice always" is about.  Praying is not about begging and pleading. It really is not even about the way I was "taught" to pray,  P.U.S. H  AND  A.C.T.S.

Pray Until Something Happens  and Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication.  While there is a small and limited amount of actual scriptural truth in those acronyms, they basically promote a regimented and self based style of prayer, at best. Our prayer life should be no less than a "life of prayer". Therein lies the secret to praying without ceasing. If we drop the begging and pleading and telling God about everything that is wrong, everything that we need or want to see happe and that He needs to be attending to in the next increment of time before we "get before Him" again and give Him our list of supplications, only of course after a few minutes of a little praise, a quick "oh forgive me for the wretch I am" and then a little thank you for all you do and start just praising Him in all we do and all the time, we would have less needs, more clarity and less frustration. There is a time for asking, but that needs to be with thanksgiving.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;  Philippians 4:6

That was quite the run~on sentence I know, but there it is.

     I will wrap this up by saying I finally decided to just put all of what I knew about prayer and my relationship with God into my life and I started with the decisions about the next step in front of me regarding school. And, I knew there would be a last year of school to consider at some point, but I laid it ALL down. I then proceeded to walk out and make a permanent part of my life the way I now knew to pray and just live. I then sent an email that I knew could yield an answer that would put a dream I have had in my heart since third grade to its final resting place. I knew the possibility of not seeing that dream come true in my life could quite possibly be in the response I would get. But, I was willing to accept that if it were not in God's desire for me.

     The answer came! Not only did the answer take the confusion and stress out of the next step, not only did the answer make clear what the next step was, the step after that, the final decision about school was offered in that response. I am going to see the desire, the desire God put in my heart come to life in my life. I won't go into detail here but these things that must happen for all of this to take place are HUGE, and in the natural without exaggeration, not possible. One answer, one email and God had it all sorted out and gave it to me. Pushing and pleading I am done with. I never did feel it was right. Thank you Father for loving me and showing me how to live to please YOU!

These beautiful flowers this morning made me think of how thankful I am and I just thought I would share this story with you.

     Just like any other government or kingdom, the Kingdom of God is established on principles.  Whether you believe in God and have accepted His Son as your Savior or not, the world is governed by the principles God established for this world. If you have made Jesus the Lord of you life and are going along with what your personal ideas are on things, functioning in the traditions of man that nullify the Word of God, or follow religious doctrine that is not scriptural; you can go along as long as you like frustrated and bewildered about why things are the way they are for you. The good news is, when you get your Bible out and see what it says, really says, and apply those principles to your life, really do it God’s way and not your own, He doesn’t hold back. His principles work, they work every time and they always are for your good. Thank you, Father for Your patience with me and for Your faithfulness!

Wondering Wednesday

   For  six months, Jesus had been telling His disciples that he would be dying soon.  On this Wednesday, He tells them it will happen in two days.  Jesus knew that this Passover celebration, He would be the Lamb whose blood would be shed to save the people.  Remember how God’s people put the blood of a lamb over their door posts to save them from dying?  Well, after this Passover the only blood that would count would be the blood Jesus shed.  From then on, anyone that believed in Jesus, and accepted Him would be able to live with Him in Heaven.  Although Jesus had been telling them about all of this, He never really said when it would happen.  Now, He tells them it would be in two days, on the Passover.  Jesus would be the once and for all, Passover Lamb.

   The chief priest's, scribes and religious leaders realized they would never be able to trick, Jesus.  So, they all got together at the high priest's house to plan and plot how to capture Jesus secretly, and just kill Him.  The high priest's name was, Caiaphas.  By this time many thousands of people were going into Jerusalem.  That was a problem for these evil men that plotted to kill, Jesus.  Earlier in the week, they were concerned about the people being upset with them for arresting Jesus and killing Him.  But now, there were thousands of people they were worried about upsetting, especially since it was their Passover celebration.  They knew Jesus was not going to be giving them a reason to arrest Him.  If the people got very upset, the Roman government would stop these religious leaders from arresting and killing Jesus.  But, these evil men were determined to see Jesus destroyed.

   We can not be sure of just what Jesus did on this Wednesday before the Passover, because the Bible does not say.  Jesus most likely went to the temple again to teach and heal.  He probably spent time in prayer.  He may have taken a walk with Mary and Martha and reassured them that no matter what happened He would always be with them.  He may have spent some time with His very dear friend, Mary Magdalene, assuring her that no matter what happened, she would see Him again.  He probably talked with His disciples about those things He wanted to be sure they heard.  Maybe He tried to tell them in words what only the cross was going to show them for sure... just how much He loved them.  Maybe He told them just how precious they were to Him.  Maybe He talked privately with Peter and reassured Him that no matter what happened He would would always love and forgive him.  Maybe He told Peter he was much stronger than he thought and to never be afraid.  Maybe He walked to where the dead Fig tree was and prayed to God about the people that would be destroyed if they would not say they were sorry for their sins and accept Jesus as their Savior.  Maybe He talked to the people about forgiveness and love, and how important those things are to God’s Kingdom.  But, whatever Jesus did do during that day, He was doing what God wanted Him to do because He always did the work of His Heavenly Father.

   But, we do know what Jesus did that evening.  That evening,  Jesus was back in Bethany, having dinner at a man named Simon’s house.  The people back then ate at table that was low to the floor. They sat on the floor and often reclined back a little.  Meals were a time of getting together with family and friends that they loved and trusted. Although meals were a time to eat, they were really more about the a time to meet.  Jesus was reclined back and enjoying His disciples at this dinner meal at Simon’s house.  While having His dinner, a woman came in with an alabaster jar filled with perfumed oil.  She broke the long neck of the alabaster jar and  slowly poured it on Jesus’ head.  Back in the Old Testament it was a sacred thing to pour expensive oil like this on a man's head.  It meant he was being set aside from all of the other people to be holy and to be the priest.  This woman was showing that Jesus was holy, and that He was their Priest.  She also did this because she understood what Jesus was talking about when He said He would be dying in two days.  Back in this day, they put oil and spices on a persons body to bury them.  This woman loved Jesus.  She did for Him what she could, and what she knew God wanted her to do.  She was brave to do this.  Her love for Jesus made her brave and obedient.  This time, many of the disciples were upset at such extravagance.  They were upset about how expensive the perfumed oil was and that it was wasted.  They said it could have been sold for a lot of money and the money could have been given to the poor.  Jesus asked His disciples why they were giving this woman such a hard time.  He told them that the poor would always be with them, but that He would be leaving in two days.  Jesus told them that she did a good thing, that she prepared his body for His soon to be burial.  He told them that anytime the Good News would be preached about Jesus throughout the whole world, this woman's good deed would be remembered and talked about.

   Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus disciples and their treasurer,  was angry about this the Saturday night before, and now it happened again.  He was furious.  He wanted the money from the perfume for himself.   Judas knew the religious leaders were at the high priest Caiaphas’ house trying to figure out a way to kill Jesus.   Judas left the dinner and went straight to Caiaphas’ house.  He also knew they would like to be able to capture Jesus secretly to have Him killed.  But, where Jesus was there were always so many people and they would not get a chance to snatch Him.  But,  Judas also knew Jesus’ plans for the next two days and he knew how  and when the religious leaders could sneak up and capture Him when He would be alone with just His disciples.  When Judas got to Caiaphas’ house, he asked the religious leaders how much money they would give him if He double crossed Jesus and told them when they could capture Him.  They paid Judas 30 pieces of silver.  This is the amount slaves were bought and sold for.  For 30 lousy pieces of silver, Judas sold Jesus to the men that wanted to kill Him.

   Today we can wonder,  just what Jesus did do?  What we do know is that Jesus was betrayed by one of His own disciples, sold to those trying to kill him for a fist full of silver.

   Thank You Jesus that Your life is hidden in the Father's and that because of Your great love for us, we are hidden "in" Him as well!

Day of Authority

   Last night Jesus went back to Bethany where his dear friend Mary, Martha and Lazarus lived to eat and spend the night. This morning all those years ago while Jesus walked out of Bethany He was hungry. He saw a fig tree with leaves on it. A Fig tree is different than other fruit trees, the figs bloom before the leaves appear.  If a Fig tree has leaves , it should have fruit.  This Fig tree had lots of leaves, and no fruit. Like other times Jesus used things the people could relate to and understand, He used this Fig tree to teach the disciples something very important. His time was at hand and He wanted to teach them everything they would need to know when He left at the end of the week. Jesus said to the Fig tree, “May you never bear fruit again!”   When the disciples saw the fig tree withered and dead the next morning they were perplexed and asked Jesus about this. They had seen Jesus heal the sick, make the blind to see, the deaf to hear and the lame walk.  They had seen Him raise Jairus’ daughter, a widows son and Lazarus from the dead.  All that was very amazing indeed!  But, they had never seen Jesus curse anything.  This made a big impact on the them. When  Jesus spoke to them about the Fig tree, He was using it to show His disciples how the people of Israel were behaving, well - misbehaving.  They looked like they were doing right and were living for God, but they did not accept God’s Son,  Jesus.  They were fake.   Jesus was showing them that religious pretenders did not and would not ever bear fruit.  Just like the fake and fruitless Fig tree, these people were cursed. They knew He was very serious about the lesson He was teaching them.  The disciples did not want to be empty and fake on the inside and only pretending to be living for God on the outside.  They would listen very carefully from now on to everything Jesus had to say.  Then, they would do what He said.  They wanted to be good men that Jesus could call His friend.   

   But, so like Jesus it did not stop there. Jesus told them something that is great news for us still today that believe Him and have made Him Lord of our lives. He told the disciples that if they really have faith in God, and would not doubt Him or His Word, they could do things like this and more.  If it is God’s will, we can have whatever we ask for.  We have to know what God says we can have, and we can find that in our Bible.  All we have to do is just believe what God says is true, ask for it and receive it.  That is how we receive salvation and everything else from God. What wonderful news!!!!!!!  Jesus was telling the disciples that the authority He had, they would have too.  He was going to leave that power with them, with us. It is the power from the victory we will see at the end of the week. Tonight Jesus will go back to the Mount of Olives and sleep.  That is where He went to stay when He had to get out of the public’s eye after He had raised Lazarus from being dead.  He knows this night is one He must get rest because tomorrow will hold much for Him to do.

   Thank you Father for the patience you showed us through Your Son Jesus with every parable and lesson You taught us!