Hebrews 12:2
We all know this: that we all don't know what to expect in heaven. It is a fact that it is a mystery. I was always told that if you thought it would be one way, it would be 100 times greater. So sometimes I would think, if I can think of the most amazing awesome place ever, how cool would it be that God would have to make heaven even greater than that. Truth be told, it is already there, and it IS "greater than that." And Jesus when He came to Earth was the only one to live on Earth after He had lived in Heaven. He already knew what was in store for Him when He went home. That is why He could finish His race strong and bear all the sin for all of us while He was here. Because it was worth it, He knew His next destination.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
The Heart of a Runner
Hebrews 12:1-3
Being a Christian can be compared to running a race. You have to have a pace. And you have to finish. It is easy to quit. It is easy to get distracted. It is easy to tire out. But when you have endurance and overcome all the obstacles in your way it is all worth it in the end. Jesus had to run a race. He had to hold on while being tempted. The author of my devotional lays it out easy to understand, he says the scriptures say Jesus "held on", that implies that He could have let go. He didn't. It also says in scripture that He was tempted, not that the devil tried to tempt or that he attempted to tempt Jesus. It says that Jesus was tempted. And in the face of temptation, forty straight days of it, he "held on". Refusing to let go.
Being a Christian can be compared to running a race. You have to have a pace. And you have to finish. It is easy to quit. It is easy to get distracted. It is easy to tire out. But when you have endurance and overcome all the obstacles in your way it is all worth it in the end. Jesus had to run a race. He had to hold on while being tempted. The author of my devotional lays it out easy to understand, he says the scriptures say Jesus "held on", that implies that He could have let go. He didn't. It also says in scripture that He was tempted, not that the devil tried to tempt or that he attempted to tempt Jesus. It says that Jesus was tempted. And in the face of temptation, forty straight days of it, he "held on". Refusing to let go.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Heavenly Heart
2 Corinthians 5:16,17
This was an easy section to relate to for me. Especially this time of year. It is about lists. And as we all know, Santa makes a list and checks it twice. And if you know my wife, she makes lists and lists and lists and checks them and checks them and checks them. But the list referred to here is WAY more IMPORTANT than our superficial junk. I learned today that to have a heavenly heart is to think of everyone here on Earth as either going to heaven or not. It is cut and dry. Two columns. And if I learn to think of people in that sense, then I will rejoice when they accept Christ and I will pray for those not yet doing so. It is easy to make all kinds of columns and lists to put people into, but when it all comes down to it there is only one book of life, you are in it or you aren't.
This was an easy section to relate to for me. Especially this time of year. It is about lists. And as we all know, Santa makes a list and checks it twice. And if you know my wife, she makes lists and lists and lists and checks them and checks them and checks them. But the list referred to here is WAY more IMPORTANT than our superficial junk. I learned today that to have a heavenly heart is to think of everyone here on Earth as either going to heaven or not. It is cut and dry. Two columns. And if I learn to think of people in that sense, then I will rejoice when they accept Christ and I will pray for those not yet doing so. It is easy to make all kinds of columns and lists to put people into, but when it all comes down to it there is only one book of life, you are in it or you aren't.
Monday, December 14, 2009
A Forward Looking Heart
1 Corinthians 13:12
When we read scriptures that tell us of heaven rejoicing we now know that is because there is a party thrown for every sinner that has repented and also when a believer comes home. The stage is set and they are waiting on us. And when we start to think with a forward thinking heart we will envision the party as a group of people that are transformed to be just like Him all together at last. It will be a perfect place.
When we read scriptures that tell us of heaven rejoicing we now know that is because there is a party thrown for every sinner that has repented and also when a believer comes home. The stage is set and they are waiting on us. And when we start to think with a forward thinking heart we will envision the party as a group of people that are transformed to be just like Him all together at last. It will be a perfect place.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
A Rejoicing Heart
Philippians 4:4
Today I read about the impact that our actions on Earth have in Heaven. There is an effect in Heaven for many of the actions that we have here. But the greatest of all is when a heart surrenders to God. It says that there is a party in Heaven every time someone lays their life down for the Lord. A rejoicing happens. There is no other time in our lives that Heaven will celebrate except for when we except Christ. So shouldn't we have the same joyous heart for others on Earth when they do the same? We should celebrate and be overwhelmed with emotion every times someone makes that faith decision!
Today I read about the impact that our actions on Earth have in Heaven. There is an effect in Heaven for many of the actions that we have here. But the greatest of all is when a heart surrenders to God. It says that there is a party in Heaven every time someone lays their life down for the Lord. A rejoicing happens. There is no other time in our lives that Heaven will celebrate except for when we except Christ. So shouldn't we have the same joyous heart for others on Earth when they do the same? We should celebrate and be overwhelmed with emotion every times someone makes that faith decision!
"Our actions on the keyboard of earth
trigger hammers on the piano strings of heaven."
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Learning Hope from the Master
Hebrew 6:18-20
What a way to get back going. Learning how to see difficult situations and sometimes people that do negative things in a way that Jesus would. He saw these things with hope. He saw good. He saw the Master's plan play out in all situations. I have journaled about this very thing recently in my own journal at home. It is a difficult thing to process, seeing good in bad situations. It is something that doesn't come natural to a born sinner. But when our hearts and heads are right with God we can see good and see "the plan" in all things. At the end of this section in the devotional there is an extra scripture, it is Romans 12:9-16. What an amazing scripture to base your life on. It is a simple guideline on how to live your days out.
I really like verse 9.
"Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good."
Abhor- to regard with extreme repugnance or aversion, detest utterly, loath, abominate
Cleave- to adhere closely, stick, cling
What a way to get back going. Learning how to see difficult situations and sometimes people that do negative things in a way that Jesus would. He saw these things with hope. He saw good. He saw the Master's plan play out in all situations. I have journaled about this very thing recently in my own journal at home. It is a difficult thing to process, seeing good in bad situations. It is something that doesn't come natural to a born sinner. But when our hearts and heads are right with God we can see good and see "the plan" in all things. At the end of this section in the devotional there is an extra scripture, it is Romans 12:9-16. What an amazing scripture to base your life on. It is a simple guideline on how to live your days out.
I really like verse 9.
"Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good."
Abhor- to regard with extreme repugnance or aversion, detest utterly, loath, abominate
Cleave- to adhere closely, stick, cling
Im back....
Dear Satan,
You have won the battle for my quiet time this last week. But you have lost the war waged for my eternity. You loose. And now I will take back my daily quiet time.
Sincerely,
Jordan
You have won the battle for my quiet time this last week. But you have lost the war waged for my eternity. You loose. And now I will take back my daily quiet time.
Sincerely,
Jordan
Thursday, December 3, 2009
A Hope Filled Heart
Matthew 6:22-23
Today was all about the day that Judas betrayed Jesus. It goes into great detail as to the complete hardship that Jesus had to go through that night. When you see it all laid out it is overwhelming. I often just think of the event as one of the followers betraying Jesus and having him arrested. But that is not all the He had to go through. Here are the big time bullet points of what He had to go through that night:
1. Unanswered Prayer
2. Unfruitful Service
3. Unbelievable Betrayal
Those are all things that you would think would never happen to Jesus. Yet all of them happened in a span of about 5 minutes. In that situation anyone, anyone other than Jesus, would have been completely overwhelmed. But instead Jesus could see past all that and have a hope for the future. A hope for the ones that are betraying Him. A hope for the ones that ran away. A hope for all of us. So when things start to stack up in life we should take a step back and think about how it is all going to work itself out.
Today was all about the day that Judas betrayed Jesus. It goes into great detail as to the complete hardship that Jesus had to go through that night. When you see it all laid out it is overwhelming. I often just think of the event as one of the followers betraying Jesus and having him arrested. But that is not all the He had to go through. Here are the big time bullet points of what He had to go through that night:
1. Unanswered Prayer
2. Unfruitful Service
3. Unbelievable Betrayal
Those are all things that you would think would never happen to Jesus. Yet all of them happened in a span of about 5 minutes. In that situation anyone, anyone other than Jesus, would have been completely overwhelmed. But instead Jesus could see past all that and have a hope for the future. A hope for the ones that are betraying Him. A hope for the ones that ran away. A hope for all of us. So when things start to stack up in life we should take a step back and think about how it is all going to work itself out.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Posting a Guard
Hebrews 3:1
In today's reading we are told why we should post a guard at the doorstep of our minds. We are to protect the thoughts that come to us and judge them so that we are not letting the junk in. The example is given; if our minds are greenhouses then thoughts are seeds. You can't let bad seed in to set up shop, you have to be careful to only select good seed to grow. And the judge whom we should take all the seeds to to determine if they are good or bad is Jesus. All thoughts. Don't be quick to open the door. Bad seeds are sneaky and will come with a quickness. I really like the last paragraph:
In today's reading we are told why we should post a guard at the doorstep of our minds. We are to protect the thoughts that come to us and judge them so that we are not letting the junk in. The example is given; if our minds are greenhouses then thoughts are seeds. You can't let bad seed in to set up shop, you have to be careful to only select good seed to grow. And the judge whom we should take all the seeds to to determine if they are good or bad is Jesus. All thoughts. Don't be quick to open the door. Bad seeds are sneaky and will come with a quickness. I really like the last paragraph:
The point is this. Guard the doorway of your heart.
Submit your thoughts to the authority of Christ.
The more selective you are about the seed, the more delighted you will be about the crop.
Perfect summary. Love it. But I think it is important not to get into the mindset that if we guard our hearts that very few thoughts will actually get in. It is quite the opposite. We will be filled with positive thoughts that will be pleasing to God. The Bible tells us in Philippians 4:4-10 just what kind of thoughts we should be looking forward to: true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. Now that's a list that looks like it could fill you with the right attitude.
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