He’s the one.

“When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?’ Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” Matthew 11:2-6

It strikes me that John is asking for a definitive ‘yes or no’ answer, yet Jesus doesn’t give him one. Instead, he gives John evidence and then has John draw his own conclusion.

So, is Jesus the one?

Since coming to Christ I can see truth about myself and the world that I couldn’t find before, even though I was looking. I am able to pursue things in life that are central to my passion and being that I never could before, I can listen to others and creation with a new openness, with grace and clarity. I have new Life (which is hard to explain to someone who hasn’t experienced this gift from God yet), and I understand today that I am glorified by God and that I am invited to participate with God in God’s good plans – which is good news! I am blessed since putting down the offenses I thought were Jesus, but were really just misappropriations of who Jesus is. There’s no doubt about it.

Jesus didn’t say, ‘Yes. I am Him.’ in a straightforward/beyond doubt kind of way. Instead, he showed us how to know it’s him. Today, all the markers he lined out are visible in my life in some really amazing ways and I’m so grateful.

After 20 years of earnest spiritual seeking and learning/practicing lots of different spiritual disciplines I can say confidently that, in Jesus, I have experienced a connection with the divine unlike anything else. It is unparalleled – far and away and high above. I love everything I’ve experienced and been taught along the way, but Jesus has added a dimension that was unattainable without his presence.

He’s it. Jesus is the one.

Scripture Memorization Club Matthew 27:54

Matthew 27:54New International Version (NIV)

⁵⁴ When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”

What will it take for US to realize who He is?

For the Centurion, it took the skies blacked midday. It took the quaking of the Earth. It took the curtain torn. The rocks split. The tombs opened. And the rising of the sleeping Saints.

Do we also need such signs to fathom this truth?

If we saw the same awesome display would we finally be ready to hand our lives over to Him? To trust His Power, obey His Wisdom, and stop. being. so. afraid?

Would we finally trust His Love for us even as we begin to comprehend how vast, how mighty, how capable, how material and how prescient it actually is?

Would we finally understand that

EITHER GOD IS EVERYTHING OR HE IS NOTHING?

Would we finally choose?

Today I present this to you. No Earthquake. No darkness. And no half measures.

EITHER GOD IS EVERYTHING OR HE IS NOTHING.

Choose.

Scripture Memorization Club Matthew 27:46

I am so sick. The skin on my lips is peeling off because I have to breathe through my mouth, my sinuses are blocked, my head feels like there is an axe in it, my throat hurts, and I have a deep, rattling, painful cough that hurts my throat more. My body is aching,  my energy is completely gone.

For two days I could not speak, I could not care for my children, I could not bathe, I could do nothing but lay in bed with my eyes closed, drifting in and out of borderline hallucinogenic sleep and waiting until I could safely take the next round of fever reducer. I have been brought low.

Scripture Memorization Club Exodus 20:17

This week I’m drawing our attention to the last commandment of the 10 commandments that God gave to Moses. The very 10 commandments written on tablets of stone that Moses later busted up in a fit of anger after seeing that Israel was worshiping a Golden Calf in his absence. These commandments are God’s approach to ethics, great advice for happy living and they still apply to our lives today.

Then The Pipe Burst

There it is, the misty muddy swill and hiss of a rusted water main bested by the cold snap. That problem has come and I feel the damp of it pressing on the tiny ember of newborn hope recently kindled within me. I’m in that place in life where I’ve got to concede I’ve reached my limit. I’ve blown the balloon of my financial capacity just to the edge of bursting and I’ve got to find a way to release the pressure. I thought maybe, just maybe, the new plan that just arrived, carrying with it direction and hope, would be it. Then the pipe burst.

A Friend on the Path

“I have an amnesia.” she said. This after we had walked a couple hundred yards. I was a few steps ahead, acutely aware of the shared space with this strange woman who I had seen from time to time, but only in passing. We hadn’t come into even a tacit agreement to walk together. Yet, here we were, on separate walks in the same direction, and too close for too long not to acknowledge each had just become a part of the others experience.

“Oh?” was my only response. I’d never had anyone tell me they suffered from amnesia before. In the same moment, I felt the Holy Spirit, who had been quietly sneaking up, flare insistently within my heart. His gentle touch instructed me this was a moment to soften, to open, to be present.

My First Email for My First Bible Study.

For the Ladies of the Women’s Bible Study,

I sit here, emotionally open and in a state of wonder, and I feel compelled to write to you who have committed to spending time together with each other and with the Lord this summer. I write today as the Holy Spirit moves me to. Please, take what you can use and discard what you cannot.

More John 1:1-5

I wrote yesterday on this scripture and made the statement that “Jesus Christ is the embodiment of the intention and nature of God. He is God’s thought and spirit, His essence, made flesh.”

Tonight, whilst doing some lectio devina style prayer, my heart swooning and open, I thought of the cross in a different way. If Jesus is God’s nature and intention, it’s safe to say He represents God’s hopes and dreams.

The Answer

“Why are we here? What’s the meaning of life?”

“For we are what He has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.” – Ephesians 2:10

This one little quote sums up the answer to life with a clear depth we can dive into for the rest of our lives. In it we find submission to God. We find humility. We find ourselves reborn and receiving our son-ship through Christ.

In  this quote we are told the purpose for our lives in this form on this Earth, and that this purpose is in line with the nature of God. We are shown what edifies us, and what we are made to do. We are assured we are not alone, that there is a plan for us, that we are under guidance and care and tutelage.

The Joy of the Lord is My Strength

“Brethren, your calling is very holy. Your work is very difficult. Your savior is very mighty, and the joy of the Lord is your strength.” – Dr. J.H. Jowett

I love these words.

A holy calling is a strong urge toward a way of life that is consecrated to God, devoted to the service of God. It’s a strong urge to know more of God, to commune with Him and His truth, to be dedicated to an ever deepening relationship with our Creator.