still a slave

The thought that I am a slave captivates me. The thought that I am allowing myself to be under someone's control. In my pre-Jesus days, I allowed myself to be held captive to the desire of sin in my life. Now, a believer in Jesus Christ, I continue to subject myself to the hand of yet another. My Lord is now my Master and I submit willingly to Him and His teachings. His ways are full of loving kindness and truth. So you see, to this day, I am still a slave. Once a slave to sin, now a slave to my King!

Look at the the scriptures found here in Romans 6: 15-19
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! 16 Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.

Not Like the Nine

I love the story of the cleansing of the 10 lepers. Jesus is traveling and He enters a village and ten lepers called out to Him for healing. He simply responds, "Go show yourself to the priests" On their way, they become cleansed (healed) all ten of them. Scripture says that only one of them , after realizing what had taken place, turned around to give thanks for what he had received. I love this because it causes me to question what I am thankful for and even begs to ask the question- am I thankful at all. I think it becomes very easy for us to walk through our lives literally expecting God to take care of things and when He does we are just expectant of it! Do we really give glory where glory is due? Or do we in the midst of our hurried lives chalk it up as just another day in our lives. These lepers had a disease that affected their lives. It was something they had to live with and it kept them from being in contact with people. When these 10 receive the gift of freedom- only 1 turns to give thanks. Father, I thank you for giving me life. I thank you for ridding me of my bondage that YOU nailed to the cross! I thank you for taking away from me a disease of sin that affected my everyday life. I still struggle but I pray you find me faithful. I submit to be the 1 who gives credit where credit is due! I will not be like the other 9

Luke 17: 11-19
11-13It happened that as he made his way toward Jerusalem, he crossed over the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten men, all lepers, met him. They kept their distance but raised their voices, calling out, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"

14-16Taking a good look at them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests."

They went, and while still on their way, became clean. One of them, when he realized that he was healed, turned around and came back, shouting his gratitude, glorifying God. He kneeled at Jesus' feet, so grateful. He couldn't thank him enough—and he was a Samaritan.

17-19Jesus said, "Were not ten healed? Where are the nine? Can none be found to come back and give glory to God except this outsider?" Then he said to him, "Get up. On your way. Your faith has healed and saved you."

it takes courage

Here is a little background of what has taken place when we come to this scripture passage:

* Healing of a lame man
* Peter preaches
* Peter and John arrested
* Peter and John face the Jewish leadership
* Peter and John told not to preach or teach in the name of Jesus

We see in scripture that Peter and John had compassion on someone. They had faith that God could do something to change the situation. They do something that literally reshapes a person's life and they find themselves arrested and thrown into jail. They have people screaming at them and telling them never to do this again. Look at how they pray!


taken from Acts 4: 23-31

"On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. "Sovereign Lord," they said, "you made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: " 'Why do the nations rage and the people plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. Indeed, Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus. After they prayed, the place they were meeting was shaken. And they were are filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly." Acts 4: 23-31

* we know God is in control - verse 24
* He told us it would be this way - verses 25-27
* pray for boldness - verse 31
* He answers - verse 31

if you're gonna blow a horn, blow a trumpet

1 Corinthians 26-31 as read in "The Message"

Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don't see many of "the brightest and the best" among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these "nobodies" to expose the hollow pretensions of the "somebodies"? That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. That's why we have the saying, "If you're going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God."

Isn't it great that He has chosen men and women that the culture overlooks. He has chosen the world's insignificant and despised things - the things viewed as nothing- so He might bring to nothing the things that are viewed as something. Everything we have and are come from HIM. Blow your trumpet!!!

5and2

The thought that capture me today is simply this, Have I given my "5and2"? Can I honestly say that I have given all that I have to this thing we call life. This life that we live is a journey with our Creator. He, Jesus, being the King of kings and Lord of Lords. Have I honestly given all that I have? When you look at the scripture found in the 6th Chapter of The Gospel of John, you see that this little boy had 5 loves of bread and two fish (hence the phrase 5and2). This boy gives all the he has and in return the Lord blesses it and it satisfies the multitude! Scripture goes on to say that all were satisfied and there was even more left over. Does that mean when we give our "5and2" that the Lord blesses it and then those around us are satisfied and there is even some left over! If so, I pray that we all give our "5and2"

Lord hear our prayer, we have nothing but our "5and2" please take it bless it and feed the multitude!!


John 6
Bread and Fish for All
1-4After this, Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee (some call it Tiberias). A huge crowd followed him, attracted by the miracles they had seen him do among the sick. When he got to the other side, he climbed a hill and sat down, surrounded by his disciples. It was nearly time for the Feast of Passover, kept annually by the Jews.

5-6When Jesus looked out and saw that a large crowd had arrived, he said to Philip, "Where can we buy bread to feed these people?" He said this to stretch Philip's faith. He already knew what he was going to do.

7Philip answered, "Two hundred silver pieces wouldn't be enough to buy bread for each person to get a piece."

8-9One of the disciples—it was Andrew, brother to Simon Peter—said, "There's a little boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But that's a drop in the bucket for a crowd like this."

10-11Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." There was a nice carpet of green grass in this place. They sat down, about five thousand of them. Then Jesus took the bread and, having given thanks, gave it to those who were seated. He did the same with the fish. All ate as much as they wanted.

12-13When the people had eaten their fill, he said to his disciples, "Gather the leftovers so nothing is wasted." They went to work and filled twelve large baskets with leftovers from the five barley loaves.

Mentoring

As I read in the scriptures, I see a host of instances that deal with mentoring. This idea of life on life - one on one contact and influence into one's life. 1 Thessalonians 2: 11-12 says, "For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory"

Three things I see here, when we are mentoring and investing into a person's life:
1. you have got to encourage
2. you have got to comfort
3. you have got to urge them

what do people see?

We read in the scriptures in Acts 4:32 "When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note thats these men had been with Jesus"

This is a scripture that excites me yet at the same time haunts me. It is the truth that is reveled when we have been with Jesus. It is the very nature of who we are when we spend time in intimate communion with the Lord. It was said of these men, Peter and John, that they had been with Jesus. Are these the words that are spoken about me when people come into contact with me? Are these the things that are noticed about me in my daily living? Is it being said that I have been with Jesus? Lord teach me to walk in your way. I know your ways are full of loving kindness and truth. My prayer today is that people willo notice that I have been with YOU