Not When it Becomes a Ritual

So I haven't been posting anything lately.  Not because I'm not reading and meditating on the verses given in The Joshua Code...but because my writing had started to become more about the ritual of it than the relationship growing from it.  So I stopped.  My heart wasn't in the right place.

After taking this break, I can feel a little tug at my heart to start again.  This is what it's all about, for me,  in doing this.  I'm glad if anyone else enjoys what I write, but I'm most happy when all this spurs on a deeper relationship with Jesus...by getting to know Him through His Word.

Here's the verses that we've missed over the last 5 weeks on the blog here.  I encourage you to go into your Bible, read them, pray about them, and let them touch your heart.

1 John 1:9
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness".

Luke 10:27
" 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,' and 'your neighbor as yourself'."

John 13:34
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another."

1 Corinthians 10:31
"Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God".

1 Samuel 16:7
"For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

Follow Him

I love reading Mark 1:17 "Then Jesus said to them, 'Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men'."  Jesus didn't say "Hey, guys, you look like you could learn a few things and then come work for me...ya know, when you've cleaned up your act".  He didn't ask "Got any good character references?".  He just said "Follow Me".  Like, now!  Jesus wanted them just as they were.  He didn't wait for them to go clean up their appearance or their lives.

He doesn't ask us to do that either!  The invitation is always there - just waiting for us - to Follow Him.

I know a few ladies who did just that.  They chose, at various times in their lives to follow Jesus.  They each have their own stories and backgrounds and, from what I've come to know about them, none of them were perfect at the time they said yes to His invitation.  But they were open, they were real, and they fished me out of the deep waters I'd gotten myself into.  They showed me what life was like with Jesus vs what my life was like without Him.  I am forever and eternally grateful for their example to me, and how they - by following Him - showed me how I could do the same.

God is Love, So I'm Okay - Right?

I used to think I was a pretty good person.  I didn't steal, I tried not to lie, I helped other people.  I certainly didn't murder anyone.  I was a good person, more often than not.  I used the think that was enough...God is love, so I was okay.  Right?

What I never thought about, was Jesus.  If I could be "good enough", then why did He have to die on the cross?  The problem with my thinking was that I could never be or do enough good to make myself acceptable to God.  I didn't lie much, but if I'm honest with myself, I still lied now and then.  I didn't always help other people...I wasn't always nice to my parents, let alone honoring to them.  Sometimes I got really jealous when someone else had something I wanted for myself!  I was/am/always will be far from perfect.  I can't possibly keep all of the rules that God laid out for us in Exodus.  Nobody can.  That's why He gave them to us...to show us our need for Him.  For Jesus.

In Galatians 2, we can see how dangerous it is to believe what I used to...thinking I could earn God's love through my actions.  Verse 21 lays it all out on the line "...for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"

But He did die.  On the cross.  For me, and for you!  Our verse this week is actually Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."  Our sins died with Him on the cross.  He paid it all.  Our debt, the cost for our sin, should be death (Romans 6:23).  God is love, though, and He made a way out...to redeem us with Christs blood on the cross.

I am no longer who I used to be...struggling in my own efforts.  Christ is in me.  The resurrection power of Christ - it is my strength to live this life in a new way - for Him.  I'm not saying all of a sudden I am perfect because I live by faith in Jesus - not even close!  But He is at work, in me, changing my heart, my mind, and my actions through His great love.

God Calls Us His Own.

It all goes back to a relationship.  God calls us His own.  He calls us by name.  He asks us to seek Him, to forgo our selfish desires, to pray.  He promises He will hear us.

"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

2 Chronicles 7:14

So, Do You?

"Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life.  The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.  Do you believe this?""  John 11:25-26

Ask yourself this.  Then replace the word 'believe' with the word 'trust'.  It might be the most important questions you ever have to answer.

He Cares for You

In an attempt to get caught up - here is last week's verse.

John 11:35 "Jesus Wept".

It is true - He cares for us.  He mourns with us, He feels our broken hearts of sadness.  He is there in our struggles and in our worry.  We don't have to carry these burdens on our own.  Trust God, because He cares for you, just like it says in 1 Peter 5:7 "Cast all your cares on Him, for He cares for you".

Heeding Wisdom's Instruction

Proverbs 29:18 "Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint; but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom's instruction."  (Some versions use the word perish in place of cast off restraint)

Pretty simple message - without God's word we are lost.  When we treasure up God's word in our hearts, listen to what He says, DO what He says - we are blessed.  He knows the plans already, so why not trust His vision for our lives?!?

(Sorry for not posting this last week!)