"Broken Beneath - Part 2"

"The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." Isaiah 61:1 

Yesterday I shared with you that I had found a ceramic planter that was very beautiful and at a great sale price at a store I was shopping in. I would have bought it except for the fact that it was broken on the bottom. I passed it up because of that and so did another woman who was looking at it.

Let me continue on the subject of "broken" this morning. While you and I pass up what's broken, God does not. God purchases the broken and makes it better than before. (Let me explain.)

The broken planter is symbolic of our lives. I am extremely glad that God didn't pass me by. My life was broken in a million pieces. It was marred and ruined by sin. It looked worthless. It looked as if there was no value to it. It was good for nothing but the trash pile. But God saw my life through His infinite love and chose me even as broken as I was to be His. He purchased me (with the blood of His Son Jesus) and took my life that was broken and repaired it- making me brand new. The brokenness was gone. The mar was no longer there. I now have hope, I have value, I am accepted, I am loved, I have purpose, I have a life and an abundant one at that. I was rescued from the trash pile and "repurposed". Sin and the devil had a purpose for me-- death and destruction. But Jesus gave me a new life and a new purpose-- a hope and a future.

You and I are no different. You were broken. You were passed by. You were unworthy. You were unloved by the world. You had an aimless existence. You were living on the trash pile. You were hopeless. Perhaps you still are, perhaps this is how you are feeling today. I have good news for you-- God takes what others would discard, He goes "dumpster diving" and reclaims what was destined to be thrown away and repurposes it by cleaning it up with His own blood and refinishing it with His righteousness-- and then makes it into something brand new.

If that is you, He wants to take away your brokenness and reproach and give you a new life.

Have a great day. The Lord chooses us who were destined for the trash pile- unwanted and discarded- and repurposes our lives making them into something brand new.

For further reading:

2 Corinthians 5:17
1 Corinthians 6:20; 7:23
John 10:10; 15:16
Jeremiah 29:11
Romans 5:8

"Broken Beneath"

"Judge not according to the appearance but judge righteous judgment." John 7:24 

You've all heard the old sayings, "Looks can be deceiving" and "Not everything that glitters is gold". Some things you can't take at face value, you have to examine them. Recently, I was in a store and found a clearance sale aisle. One of the items that was marked down was a planter. It was ceramic, nice large size and very beautifully decorated. It was 66% off the original price so it hardly cost anything. I liked it and another lady who was looking at it liked it as well. It was a perfect piece-- beautiful and cheaply priced. Did I buy it? No. Did the other lady buy it? No. We left it on the shelf.

We didn't purchase it because when we picked it up, the whole bottom of the planter was cracked. Although it looked pretty, looked desirable, was well priced, it was useless and worthless because it was broken.

The devil paints a pretty picture for us. He tries to make things look desirable and enticing. He tries to make you see something "good". He doesn't reveal the "under side" that is broken. He paints pictures that make cheating on your spouse look appealing-- after all, that other person listens to you and understands you, your spouse doesn't. He transforms lies into something that is acceptable because it helps you get what you want-- it's just a little "white lie". He only shows you the glamorous side, the fun side, the pleasurable side. He doesn't show you the side that loses everything. He shows you how cool it looks to smoke and drink, but he doesn't show you the side where your health is destroyed, and life ruined because of it. He shows you fame and fortune, but he doesn't show you the sacrifices of integrity, morality and peace of mind that often accompany it.

The planter we were looking at looked too good to be true, and it turned out to be just that. When something looks too good to be true, it usually is. You should stop and take a second look. You should examine it a little closer. The good things that come from God don't just look good on the outside, they are good through and through. He gives us every good and perfect gift, not just something that has the appearance of good but is broken.

Have a great day. Looks can be deceiving, so look at it a little closer.

For further reading:

2 Corinthians 11:13,14
James 1:17
1 John 4:1

"Praise Him In The Chains"

"And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them." Acts 16:25

(First let me start by saying that I am not being critical this morning. I am interpreting this subject by the scriptures.)

For several days the song "Shackles" has been on my heart. I have walked around the house listening to it and singing it.  Here are the words:  "Take the shackles off my feet so I can dance. I just wanna praise You. I just wanna praise You. You broke the chains now I can lift my hands and I'm gonna praise You. I'm gonna praise You."

This morning that still small voice spoke to me and said-- you don't wait until the shackles are off and the chains are broken to praise the Lord. The time to be dancing is while the shackles are still on. The time to lift your hands in praise is while you are still in chains. We think praise comes after the chains are broken, after the shackles fall off, after we have a victory, after the answer to pray comes or when we see God intervene in a situation. No, we have it backwards. 

In Acts 16 we see Paul and Silas beaten, thrown into prison and put in stocks (a form of shackles). While they were still in prison they sang and praised God... not after they were set free, not after the chains were broken and the stocks were loosed. Instead, it was after they praised and prayed that the bands were loosed, and the prison doors open.

We should praise the Lord when we see the victory, when He moves on our behalf, when He sets us free, when He breaks chains that bind us and when He removes bondages. But we should also praise Him when the chains are still there-- chains can't stop us from lifting up our hands and praising the Lord. We should also praise Him and dance the dance of freedom when the shackles are still there-- shackles can't stop our dance either. 

So, when are you going to praise Him?  After bondages are broken and you see the victory? Or before, because He is worthy of praise no matter what you are going through?

Have a great day. I'm gonna praise Him whether I have on chains and shackles or not. 

Further reading: Acts 16:19-26; Romans 5:3; 1 Thessalonians 5:18; John 16:33

"Stop Struggling"

"For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God." 1 Corinthians 1:18

Mankind seems to always be struggling when it comes to religious/spiritual matters. The Lord recently spoke something to me on the subject. He said, "The struggle stopped at the cross". At the cross Jesus took the "struggle" as well as the punishment for our sins.

The cross did away with our struggle to be accepted by God. Our struggle to be good enough for God stopped at the cross. Our struggle to be right with God stopped at the cross. Our struggle to prove to God our love for Him was stopped at the cross.

We could never be accepted by God on our own merits. There aren't enough good works that we can do that will make us good enough. There is nothing we can do to save ourselves no matter how religious we might act. We could sacrifice a million sacrifices, spend our days doing religious deeds, read the Bible through from cover to cover every day, be kind to everyone we meet, and we would still fall short.

At the cross we went from law to grace. We went from works to faith. We no longer have to sacrifice goats and bulls, we no longer have to confess to the priest, we no longer have to bring an offering to make atonement for our sins. The law made us work for something that we could still never achieve. The cross gave us something we never could have achieved on our own. The cross stopped law and works and gave us grace and faith as the way to be right with God.

At the cross, Jesus provided the way for us to be accepted by the Heavenly Father. In His cross was the satisfactory payment for all our sins. We spend our time struggling to be right with God through our own efforts, when there is only one thing we can do to make that happen-- faith and trust in Jesus' atoning work on the cross makes us right and good enough-- that is the grounds of our righteousness.

If you are struggling to be good enough for God and accepted by Him, your struggle is in vain. You are struggling for nothing. All your efforts are no good. You can only be accepted and good enough as you put your faith in what Jesus did at the cross. Mankind's struggle was stopped there because the victory was won there-- through Jesus.

Have a great day. The struggle stopped at the cross.

For further reading:

Galatians 6:14
John 19:30
Ephesians 2:8,9
Romans 8:1-4
Hebrews 9:11-15

"What Are You Speaking?"

"I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth." Psalm 34:1 

What's in your mouth? The Bible says that "death and life are in the power of the tongue". Are your words words of life-- do they encourage, build up, bring hope, peace and comfort? Are your words words of death-- do they bring pain, defeat, hurt, sorrow, destruction? The Bible also says that "praise is becoming to the righteous". That means that the only words that really "look good" on those who are followers of Jesus are words of praise.

So, as you go about your day, as you encounter daily situations, as you are involved in conversation with others, pay attention to your words and what you are saying. You could even "grade" yourself by taking note of the number of times you complain instead of praise; the number of times you speak life instead of death- and vice versa; and see which words there are more of. If words of death, unbelief and murmuring outnumber the words of life, faith and praise that you speak, then you need to have a talk with the Lord and ask Him to help you change the way you speak.

Have a great day. What words are you speaking?

For further reading:

Proverbs 18:21
Psalm 33:1; 19:14
Romans 10:8