Independence Day

 This weekend the United States of America celebrates its 250th birthday.  It is a big deal for our country.  There will be celebrations nationwide.  Think about what the word  “ independence “ means.  It can mean the state of your nation, in a political way.  It can refer to gaining your independence when you turn a certain age.  How about your financial independence, freedom from debt.  Or this last one I’m going to mention, to me, is the most important.  That is our freedom that Jesus has given us.  He has made it possible.  

We all are sinners.  We all fall short of the glory of God.  The devil wants to keep us in that bondage.  To put it bluntly, the devil wants us to rot in hell, fiery hell, for eternity.  But our Lord Jesus has given us freedom.  Jesus died on that cross for our sins.  He took those sins and buried them in hell forever.  You may be thinking if that’s the case then how can we walk-in that freedom? We can be free, we can have our independence from a life in hell to an eternity in heaven.  A beautiful place for us, the New Jerusalem where there are streets of gold.  Where we are free forever.  What is the catch?  The catch? 

We go to Jesus, be humbly on our knees, lay our sins down before Him.  And with a heart that is filled with remorse, ask Jesus to forgive us of all of the sins we have committed, and of yet to commit.  Repent to Jesus, with a heart that wants nothing other than to have that relationship with Jesus.  Ask Him to wash you clean with His blood.  Ask for His forgiveness.  Pledge to Him a life that lives only to please Him. To be pure and holy before Him.  WOW!

I can hear it now, Lord how am I to do or be all of that? I am not perfect Lord.  His answer to that, He knows we are not perfect. He knows we may slip or fall short.  That is why He sent us our Helper, the Holy Spirit.  He is with us always.  He guides us, directs us, counsels us, and wipes our tears. Jesus knows our weaknesses.  He provides us with a path of righteousness.  This is our way, Jesus’ way. 

And this is our independence. Our freedom from sin, hell, desperate situations, and so on. Our INDEPENDENCE is our FREEDOM.  AMEN! 

Our independence will last everyday for the rest of our lives and our eternity with out Lord Jesus  

“Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

‭‭John‬ ‭14‬:‭6‬ ‭HCSB

“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.””

‭‭John‬ ‭8‬:‭32‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

Gifts and Callings

 “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable [for He does not withdraw what He has given, nor does He change His mind about those to whom He gives His grace or to whom He sends His calling.

‭‭Romans‬ ‭11‬:‭29‬ ‭Amplified

In God’s own words, He will not take our gifts back.  

God is not an “Indian giver”. In layman’s terms..  Remember when we were children, we would say to our friends don’t be an “Indian giver”.  Don’t take my gift back, you already gave it to me.  

Is that how we see our gifts from Jesus?  Do we fear He will take them all back? When we asked Jesus into our lives He gave us a calling, a purpose.  Along with our calling He gave us gifts to help us and aid us.  These are two different things.  Our gifts are about us.  Our calling is about others and Jesus.  I heard an expression in my devotions this morning.  Breathing in- is about our gifts, to us.  Breathing out- is our calling.  Spreading the Gospel to others.  

We need both.  We need the discernment, wisdom, and knowledge from our Lord to live and survive, and be strong for the next part.  Breathing out is spreading the Gospel out over others.  We cannot have life without one or the other.  God made us to inhale and exhale. That is how we survive, how our organs survive.  

We often say to ourselves “oh someone else will do it “.  Sure there are others with your gifts.  But your calling, Jesus gave that specifically to you.  For you to do.  We love receiving gifts, do we love giving gifts just as much?  

I think most of us will agree, we don’t want to die without using those gifts Jesus gave us. We want to please Jesus. I want to please Jesus. I want to walk in God’s favor. And use those gifts for His glory. Are we excited to use our calling also?    

Let’s open our hearts to Jesus, surrender to Him, receive and give.  We won’t be disappointed.  

There is so much more I could write on these topics.  But then I find myself going in another direction.  Feel free to dive into God’s Word and see what He wants you to know.  

Being Dressed for Service

We all have heard different expressions about our “dress”.  A good portion relating to our jobs.  Some examples are come dressed appropriately for the type of work you will be doing. Or come looking professional.  If in the medical field come in your scrubs, they should be clean and pressed.  Your shoes should be clean and polished.  Your hair pulled back neatly.  When I started my nursing career nurses wore white.  I took great lengths to be sure my uniform was sparkling white, no wrinkles, white hose, and clean white shoes.  Now it is totally different.  Nurses wear many colors.  My husband worked in paper mills.  That is very laborious work, 8-12 hours per day.  He had to wear what the mill requested.  Heavy duty work pants, shirts with the mill emblem, and steel toe boots.  Our son is a professional musician.   He wears what is appropriate for the audiences they play for.  A lot depends on the venue.  No matter what type of work we do, it seems all of the jobs require a uniform.  And that uniform tells us to be neat, orderly, professional, and ready to perform our duties.  I would also include in these descriptions is to come prepared and dressed appropriately and with modesty.  

I can hear responses now, what does this have to do with serving God?  My faithful readers, plenty.  God has given us specific tools to equip us with.  He even tells us in Ephesians 6 what we must put on to be prepared.  

“Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the tactics of the Devil. For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens. This is why you must take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand.”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭6‬:‭11‬-‭13‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

Jesus tells us all through the Scriptures that He will send us a helper, the Holy Spirit, to help us understand.  He will give us tools to help us, He will teach us what we must know and how we should minister to those He sends us to.  These things are part of our uniform.  We must put them on to help us be ready.  

“Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest, and your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace. In every situation take the shield of faith, and with it you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is God’s word.”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭6‬:‭13‬-‭17‬ ‭HSCB

Jesus cannot make it any clearer.  We do not have the goods to stand on our own.  We need Jesus to empower us, equip us, fill us with His Spirit, and to give us the knowledge and discernment to minister to others. We must put on our uniform that is ready to go, to enable us to do the work He has asked of us.

Now that we know how to dress and to prepare for the tasks that Jesus gives us we should have no excuse but to get up and go and do those things. We all have excuses, we all have things come up, some of us have illnesses, some of us have large families to take care of, some of us have crazy work schedules. I am totally convinced that Jesus will not ask us to do something that is physically impossible for us to do. He knows each of our needs, he knows our limitations, but he also knows exactly what it will take to empower us to complete the tasks he has given.

I’d like to encourage you this week to pray and seek the Lord. Ask Him what he would like you to do for Him and not for our ourselves.  I am quite sure that I am not alone when I think “I want Jesus to say to me well done good and faithful servant” .