Posts Tagged ‘Jesus’

Posted on March 9, 2010 - by Mary

7 Life Principles Jesus Taught on the Cross

This week I am at the Resurrection Life Church Leadership Conference in Grandville. It is so amazing! We just ended the first full day and the speakers and messages were amazing. I wanted to share the message from tonight’s last session with Chris Hodges from Church of the Highlands in Birmingham Alabama. The title is “7 Principles to Make it Through a Bad Day”. Basically, they are the 7 statements Jesus said on the cross which are 7 life principles for us to live by everyday.

1. “Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.” Forgive every person who is trying to ruin your life. When you carry that stuff around, the only person it hurts is you.

2. Jesus told the criminal on the cross next to him, “Today, you will be with me in paradise”. (Luke 23:43) Help others who are experiencing your same struggle.

3. In John 19:26, Jesus says to his mother, Mary: “Dear woman, here is your son.” Be sure to be sensitive to those closest to you…your spouse and your children. Don’t go to church and put on that happy face for everyone else, then go home and be mean or grumpy to your loved ones.

4. In Matt 27:46, Jesus calls out to God, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Until we get to heave there are some things we will never understand. (Job 42:2)

5. “I thirst” (John 19:28) Be Human enough to acknowledge your needs.

6. “It is finished” (John 19:30) Be assured there is a purpose and an end. (Romans 8:28)

7. “Father into your hands, I commit my Spirit (Luke 23:46). Finally, surrender your day to God and let it go.

Posted on February 24, 2010 - by Mary

Proof Jesus IS God

Some of you may not know this interesting fact about me, so I thought I’d share it with you because the issue has arisen again recently. And that interesting fact is…I was raised a Jehovah’s Witness. Yes, that’s right, my parents became JW’s when I was in the 3rd grade and I hung onto their beliefs and was even baptized later in my adult years. I got saved in 1997, when I was 32. A co-worker, who is now my best friend, had been trying to witness to me and I was “witnessing” to her. After much discussion and going back and forth, neither of us getting anywhere really, we decided to pray together and have God reveal the truth to whichever of us needed it. Of course, you know the outcome now, so needless to say, after praying that prayer, I began to see all the contradictions the JW’s teach, right in their own bible. Of course, most JW’s are too brainwashed to see anything different, and most would never pray the way I did with a non JW.

I had to give you that little background because yesterday in church I had a gentleman, someone I’ve never met before, asking me some questions about it. He was saved, I don’t know how long ago, but a while back I’d guess, then he fell away, and then he was searching again and, I think he started going back to church, but he’s also been going to the Kingdom Hall (JW’s meeting place-they don’t call it a church). The main question he had was, “How do you know Jesus is God? How do you prove it to them?” Of course that’s been my biggest struggle, because it is a mystery and it is difficult to wrap my head around sometimes.

Tonight our church began the Experiencing God bible study. Each week we are to do the studies ahead of time, then we go over the main points during the bible study together as a group. I just love how God knows exactly what we need when we need it…don’t you? Anyway, each week, there is also a DVD that goes right along with that week’s lesson and in the video I got the answer to that question. One of the things Henry Blackaby, the author of Experiencing God, said that really stood out to me was: “Jesus gave up his right to know what God was doing when he came to the earth”. So, when we got back into discussion, I asked the leader of our group where in the bible could I find proof of that statement. He pointed me to Phillippians 2:5-8:

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!

So, that clears up some huge questions for me personally! Whenever I read verses about Jesus praying to God, I always wondered why he didn’t already know the answer since he is God, but this verse shows that he gave up that right and humbled himself. Of course Almighty God has that ability because nothing is impossible for God. (Luke 1:37)

I invited the gentleman to Experiencing God, but he didn’t show up. I hope he didn’t have second thoughts about going back to the Kingdom Hall. I was able to give him some other good scripture references, so hopefully he will be able to use them if he did go back. I will be praying for him; will you join me in that prayer?

Posted on August 23, 2009 - by Mary

ASNF and RISK

The two acronyms above were the topic of today’s message at church. One of our associate pastors delivered the message because our Pastor is out of town taking his youngest daughter to college.

Anyway, I know I won’t be able to deliver the message here on my blog the way he did at church, but I will do my best to get the gist of it across. It was a very empowering message, for me at least, because as I mentioned in one of my previous posts, I’ve been struggling in my walk with the Lord lately, just feeling dry and not feeling God’s presence in my life. I mean, I KNOW He is there and I know the issue lies with me, but there seems to be some sort of block there.

Well, today’s message sort of nailed it. The Pastor’s message started out on the topic of memories: we all have them, good or bad, we have various means of preserving our memories and studies have shown that if we could somehow extract all of our memories, we would be able to remember every single thing from our pasts, all the way back to the womb. I personally think it would be creepy to remember being in the womb, even more so being born. Could you imagine remembering being born??? I know how awesome and amazing it is to give birth, but I also know how traumatic it must be for the baby. But I digress.

So, after he talked about memories and how they affect us, the Pastor started talking to and about fathers. Many of us have grown up with no father or a bad father, while there are some amazing fathers out there. The way we view our earthly father is often the way we view our Heavenly Father. Coming from a very dysfunctional home and sexually molested by my step father, I did have a warped view of my Heavenly Father. I didn’t understand a father’s love and that he could love me unconditionally. Part of this also comes from being raised Jehovah’s Witness. Without going into all that detail, I’ve written a post about my past here.

After speaking to the fathers in the room, the Pastor then spoke to and about the ladies. Using Romans 8:14, Pastor pointed out that we are all “Sons of God” if we are led by the Spirit; both men and women. He also gave reference to the scriptures that talk about Christians as being the “Bride of Christ”; both male and female. It’s hard for us girls to wrap our heads around being called “sons” as it is for guys to be called “brides”. With that in mind, Pastor began to explain what ASNF is: A Son Never Forgets.

The Pastor also tied in the story of a teenage girl whose parents were noticing that she was more distant and withdrawn recently. As they searched her room time and again, they found evidence that she was involved in witchcraft, drugs and alcohol. They took drastic measures and began to intervene in their daughter’s life by limiting which friends she was allowed to associate with, setting boundaries such as time limits and locations, etc. Their daughter began to respond positively to the limits and boundaries her parents were setting and they began to notice her grades and attitude improving. Their daughter ended up attending a Christian retreat and at that retreat she gave her life to the Lord. Afterward, her mother reported that she stated to them on one occasion that she wasn’t afraid to die and knew where she was going. She really loved the Lord. A couple of days later, I believe, Cassie Bernall confessed her faith in God and was shot in the massacre at Columbine High School. It was later reported that her parents confessed in an interview that they weren’t sure how they would have answered. Cassie’s father, it is reported, is to have said something along the lines of “I think I would have begged for my life”.

RISK: Right view of God, Identity is settled, Sacrifice and Kingdom Building. Our lives should be about and involve RISK. And to be able to do this we should never forget our Father; who He is, what He is, and everything He is about. This can only be done though if we truly KNOW Him and the only way to do that is to dig into His word and speak to Him through prayer.

Pastor then had us all pray together and really repent if we have not been doing this, and of course the opportunity to accept Jesus into our heart if we have not done so yet. My prayer was that of repentance for not getting into the word like I need, want to and should and for not getting alone with God like I need, want and should. I felt like the message today was meant for me. And though I’ve let go and have forgiven my step father for what he did to me several years ago, it was good to do it again.
photo credit: jimwolffman