Call of the Cross

“The said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”   Matthew 16:24

When I think of all the friends and family members, as well as acquaintances that are going through a hard time right now or have experienced trying times in the past, I am reminded that we are all called to take up our cross to follow Jesus Christ.  We each have a different cross to bear.  For some, it is season of sickness and life-threatening diseases that have visited us.  Sometimes, it is the loss of a loved one whose exit from this life leaves us with an aching gap that can never seemed to be filled.  For others, their cross may take the form of persecution, criticism, and rejection.  Other crosses include a season of waiting and watching our loved ones wait.  Often our crosses bring with them seasons of intense loneliness, pain, and disappointment. Sometimes, carrying our cross leaves us with anger and bitterness which we must surrender to Jesus.  Each cross is different, but the lesson still remains the same.  Our cross teaches us to trust in Jesus and leads us to a place of exchanging our lives for His.  One preacher said it this way, “We carry our crosses and come to find that in the end, we are to be crucified on them.”  Like Jesus, we may cry out to God feeling rejected and forsaken (Matthew 27:46), but we continue on the journey despite not having all the answers. As a Social Studies teacher, I have asked my students to reflect on the big idea of “Struggle leads to change and growth.”  The more I reflect on this myself, I find the same to be true in the Kingdom of God.   If we are experiencing discomfort and struggle, then we are truly growing in Christ.    The cross is not glamorous. Others may not understand your cross and may deem it foolish (I Corinthians 1:18).  You may even fall under its weight at times, but the strength and power of God is sufficient. My cross may not look like yours and yours may not look like mine.  God has called us to different experiences, but in the end, our crosses lead us all to a place where we surrender to God the pen of our lives and allow Him to script a story that is so beautiful, that it brings Glory to His name.  In the end, that will be all that matters. If you are just starting your walk with Christ, I encourage you to hold fast to His unchanging hand and never, ever give up.  If you are a little more seasoned, then I pray that you keep on walking and trusting in His perfect plan knowing that He is not finished with you yet.      

Are You Still Listening?

My Pandora app on my ipad often produces a message that simply says, “Are You Still Listening?”  after a period of inactivity.   I often feel like replying, Of course I’m still listening, but I’m busy getting stuff done.  Why don’t you just keep playing instead of stopping to ask me if I’m still listening!  When it comes to God, He is constantly speaking to us, but so many times we let his voice just become part of the background “filler” music to our everyday tasks to the point where do not even hear the words that are being said.  God is so powerful and his creation speaks to us in itself, yet God still chooses to whisper to us in that still small voice. 

I love how Job put it,

The pillars of heaven tremble,
And are astonished at His rebuke.
He stirs up the sea with His power,
And by His understanding He breaks up the storm.
By His Spirit He adorned the heavens;
His hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!

(Job 26:14)

I have seen the majesty of God waking me in the morning with bright rays of light that burst into my room as a tired-eyed woman slowly awakes from her slumber.  I have seen bits of His majesty while gazing into the lush landscape of the English Country side and into the hillsides of Tuscany during my times of travel.   I have even beheld a bit of God’s glory as I watched grown men weep in humility and deep reverence unto God at the Wailing Wall of Jerusalem. These experiences have put me in such awe of God that often times, I was left speechless. God speaks in such powerful, yet indirect ways, but like Job, I am more astonished and amazed that God, who can speak in such power and splendor, still speaks in the form of soft holy whispers.  It has been the whispers of God that have truly put me in awe of Him like nothing else. I was 16 when I first heard His whisper, Go this way, not that way as I prayed over His direction for my life. His whisper told me I needed to trust Him and allow Him to be everything to me. As I have continued to grow in Christ, His whisper has been sufficient and satisfying to my spirit when experiencing a disappointment. I daily long for those whispers.  His whisper is so soft and gentle that it can be easy to miss it in all the hustle and bustle of a life.   I can’t say that I hear His whisper every day because, frankly, I sometimes do not allow the demands of life to be quieted long enough for me to hear His voice.  But when I do stand still long enough to hear Him, I savor His words like honey to my lips.  Sometimes, He has had to tell me something  twice because I did not allow my spirit to be quieted the first time.  I have to let the distractions go and tell Him, Yes Lord, I’m still listening.  What do you want to tell me today?  When I do, He gently places the right word into my spirit- words that I need to hear.  These words are nourishing.  They are life.

My question to you is are you still listening? Is God trying to speak to you and you haven’t been able to quiet the distractions and frustrations long enough to hear Him speak?  He is waiting.  He is patient. Open your spiritual ears and your heart to hear His still small voice. You will find yourself in awe of Him as you realize that He has the exact word you need to hear today. 

Blessed

 

When we say a person is blessed, we usually refer to the fact that he or she has an abundance of material possession- cars, houses, savings, etc.  However, when we read Psalm 1, we see that to be “blessed” goes beyond the boundaries of the material world,

 

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful…

 

First of all, we know that to be blessed, we must be obedient to God and stay away from sin and others that would encourage us to sin.  If we want God’s blessing, we must be willing to walk a godly path.  This is not always easy, but we have a high priest who was tempted just like we are, but without sin, (Hebrews 4:15), He walked this world.  It is through His grace and mercy that we can do the same (Hebrews 4:16).  

 

But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.

By eating of the Word of God daily, we can also keep ourselves separated unto God and away from sin.  David put it this way, “How can a young man cleanse his way?  By taking heed according to Your word” (Psalm 119:9).   Let the Word of God be more important than anything else in your life.  Job said it best when he said, “I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food” (Job 23:12).

 

 

He shall be like a tree planted by rivers of water, that brings forth fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.

 

Here, we see what it means to truly be “blessed”.   True blessing comes from being connected to God. Just like a tree planted near rivers of water receives its daily nourishment from being connected to its life- source, we too receive our spiritual nourishment from God’s presence daily.  As a result, we produce spiritual fruit in God’s timing. So, we see that being blessed comes from being connected to God and bearing fruit as a result of this wonderful relationship.  That is true blessing. This leads me to believe that even if everything is not going your way right now, you are still blessed.  If you are drawing from your life source- Jesus Christ, you are blessed.  Your bank account may be low, your house may be in foreclosure, your car may be breaking down, and you may have very little money right now, but rest assured that you are still blessed.  You are blessed because God is on your side.  When you realize this, your worries disappear because you understand that as a blessed person, God will take care of all of your needs, whatever they might be.  Being connected to Jesus Christ, You will never wither spiritually and whatever you set out to do for God’s glory, you will prosper in that very thing.  This might mean that you will be blessed with wealth, but even if this is not the case, you are still BLESSED because you are sitting in heavenly places right now (Ephesians 2:6).  As a child of the King, you will always be provided for.  I leave you with the words of King David as encouragement today,

 

I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread.  He is ever merciful, and lends; And his descendants are blessed.  Psalm 37: 25-26