John 4:29, 39 "'Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?’..Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me everything I have ever done.’”

The word testimony has come up a few times in the past couple of weeks and here it is again.  I feel another nudge.

I read so many stories in the bible and know many personally of how God uses unlikely, broken, unseemly people to serve him in big and little ways.  When this woman went to the well I am certain she was not expecting to walk away from it changed and I am sure she did not expect to the be vessel to change the lives of many others from that city.

What do I hold back that could bring change and grace to others if I were just willing to testify?   I am no different that many of the people in the bible that God used.  Is it pride or shame that keeps my testimony a secret?  I am quiet by nature but I am not incapable of talking and sharing stories with others.

I know God is leading me but I do not see where quite yet.  I come to the well, like the Samaritan woman, and receive his love and grace; I receive his living water.  Now I seek to be open to his will so that water can flow from me to others, spreading his message of love to all.

Lord,

You know my heart better than I know it myself.  Forgive my unwillingness to risk.  Help me listen and obey when your Spirit moves me to share, to testify, to give your name all glory and honor through whatever story I am guided to share.  Create in me a willing spirit.  Strengthen my voice until I can shout “Come and see a man who told me everything I have done!  He is the Messiah!”  In your holy name I pray, Amen.

2 Thessalonians 3:16"Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways. The Lord be with all of you."

On this Memorial Day, this day of remembering the people who sacrificed their lives so that I might live in peace, I share this verse of peace with you.

Take time today to thank the Lord for the blessing of freedoms we have in this country. Take time today to pray for our country and its leaders as well as the leaders of countries around the world.  We do not live in a world of peace but we can live with hearts of peace.  I echo the beautiful words of Paul.  May the Lord of peace give you peace; the Lord be with you all.

Lord,

Thank you for the blessings I so often take for granted.  There are so many people suffering in so many ways but even in those I ask for your peace to be given and instilled in their hearts and souls.  Let all who suffer find peace and rest in you.  Let those of us who do not suffer so be agents of your peace to others.  I pray this in your holy name and to the glory of your kingdom, now and forever.  Amen.

Galatians 5:14 “For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

I ask myself this morning, who is my neighbor?

I have visited this message before; it is written in many books of the bible and in the depths of my soul.  Occasionally I am nudged to reconsider who my neighbor is.

I just finished attending a spring bible study, yesterday was the last day.  A few times during the year I would pass a young mom with spiky red hair and a few piercings.  She was a reminder to me to consider who my neighbor is.  I am humbled when I think of the judgment that enters my mind.  Who am I to say what is in the heart of another person?  Who am I to think I know what message they seek to portray in their dress, body language, speech?  I am not called to put them in a box or label them in any way.  I am called to love them.

What about the people who seem like me?  I cannot know their heart of hearts either; I am only called to love them.  What about my family and dear friends; are they easier to love or easier to overlook completely?

As I move into this day, I lift a prayer that I would not only be able to love the purple-haired, tattooed, body pierced person as God loves me but that I would also love my own children with the heart of Christ.  I pray I would love my spouse with Christ’s love.  I pray the love of God will permeate all of our souls this day.

Lord,

You call us to love; why is that so hard for us?  This morning I ask you to open my eyes and open my heart to see clearly and love more deeply.  You know the hearts of all; give me a spirit of love for all.  I want to be a light in the darkness, a warmth in the cold, love in the midst of hate.  Use me to bring your love to those hurting souls in this world.  Amen.

Matthew 28:6-"He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.  Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.”

 What a roller coaster of emotions the disciples had been through in the last couple of days.

As they came into Jerusalem for the Passover celebration a parade of sorts came together honoring and praising Jesus as King.  There must have been a sense of elation and joy, a sense of work finally beginning to pay off.  A few short days later, Jesus hung on a cross.  He was being crucified as a criminal of the worst kind.

The disciple’s hearts and minds must have been reeling.  I imagine they were asking themselves what to do now?  Where do they go from here?  The last few years of their lives had been completely devoted to this man of God and now he was gone.

Now they receive a message from the women; they receive a message from an angel of God – “He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said”.

As I ponder the resurrection story this morning, I cannot begin to understand what the disciples must have thought or felt when they heard this new message.  I do not what I think and feel when I read this message today.  Christ the Lord has risen today; Hallelujah!

The chains of sin lay broken at the foot of the cross and there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God anymore.  I join in the songs of nature; I join in the praises of people around the world as we celebrate the risen Christ and the joy of our salvation through our risen Lord.

Christ is risen; He is raised indeed!

 

Lord,

I praise your holy name and I lift my heart in celebration for the precious gift of your salvation to me and to all.  I pray that many souls will come to know you through this celebration of your resurrection and that like the disciples in the gospel, we will be encouraged to go and tell others this incredible, amazing story.  To your glory and honor I pray.  Amen.

Matthew 20:18-19 “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death;  then they will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified;and on the third day he will be raised.”

He knew.  He went in knowing what was coming.

I have a friend who is a non-believer.  I remember a few years ago when we were talking about my faith he expressed how brutal Christianity is.  We hung our Lord on a cross and crucified him.  He claims he wants no part of that brutality.  I can understand that feeling, really and truly I can.

This morning as I meditated on the coming week I thought about my kids.  Would I sacrifice my life for my kids?  Of course I would!  Would I want to die, would I be wishing for another way, you bet I would.  If it came right down to it, would I be willing to die so my children could live?  Yes.

This is only a glimpse of what God’s love is for us.  Jesus was God incarnate.  He came to teach us, just as human parents teach their children.  He loved us and taught us and knew there needed to be more given so that we, his children, might live.  He willingly went forth into the clutches of the enemy, knowing he would be killed.  He did it for us, his kids.

As we move into this holy week of remembrance, I hope the Lord reminds us of our love for each other and uses that as a tool to open our eyes in newer and deeper ways to his love for us.

Lord,

Help me be compassionate to those who do not see or know your love.  Remove my impatience with them and guide me to show them your love in ways that serve you. Help me see them as your children, and my sisters and brothers.  Change their hearts Lord; change my heart too.  I ask these things for your glory and in your honor.  I thank you for your sacrifice of life so that we can live.  I praise you that we can claim victory and live in celebration each day because of you.  All praise, glory, and honor are yours now and forever.  Amen

Isaiah 48:21 “They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts; he made water flow for them from the rock, he split open the rock and the water gushed out.”

God is a God of miracles.

Throughout history he has provided and rescued.  He has brought wrath, instructed and guided, and so many times by the use of miracles.

We cannot explain or understand how water could come from a rock or how water can create a wall in a river bed.  We cannot explain how a baby can be born of a virgin or how death on a cross can bring forgiveness for all.

There are also daily miracles: the growth of a child, our body healing from sickness, a caterpillar turning into a butterfly.  These are harder to notice for sure, yet, no less a miracle.  We are tarnished, battered, and sometimes broken but we can hold hope in our hearts in spite of that with messages like this one.

They did not thirst... water gushed out.

What miracle will you witness today?

Lord,

Thank you for your abundant love and thank you for all of the miracles you create to speak to us and to give your love and life to us.  Open our eyes this day to see the miracles we would have missed.  Help us to drink your gushing water so we may no longer be thirsty.  All glory and honor are yours, forever.  Amen.

Luke 14:33 “So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.”

What keeps me from becoming a disciple of the Lord?  What are my possessions?  When Jesus was speaking was he talking about money and personal belongings or was it something more?

During this season of reflection and repentance, this verse spoke deeply to my heart.  I knew as soon as I read it that I needed to spend time searching my heart with this verse in mind.  What do I possess so strongly that it keeps me from being who the Lord calls me to become?  When I woke up early this morning I had house fires on my mind.  If my house were on fire what would I grab on the way out?  What is so important to me that I would risk my life for it?  When it comes down to it, my family is the only thing I would risk life and limb for.  We have a lot of stuff but none of it is more important than my life or the lives of my family.

So, in my spiritual life, why do I continue to bring my stuff?  Why do I risk spiritual life and limb as I try to flee the dangers and death and follow Jesus to abundant life?  We all have things we cling to, things that are difficult, seemingly impossible to let go of, don’t we?  I know I do.  I pray, this morning, that the Lord will reveal to me what possessions keep me from deeper discipleship.  I pray He will bring me to a place where I am freed of them forever.  I pray for you as well.

Lord,

Thank you for your word.  Thank you that even as we spend a season in reflection and repentance we know we are already redeemed through your death and resurrection.  I ask that you dig deep into my heart and truly reveal the things that keep me from abundant life in you.  Help me name them and call them out.  Strengthen me to release them and be fully free in you and your love.  Until then, use these possessions to keep me stumbling so I remember that only you can save me.  Amen.