Been thinking about some things

I have been thinking about some things, so I thought I would share with you some of my thoughts. Maybe you might have some insight or revelation that you can share with me.

I've been thinking about Jesus and when He was in the garden praying and He asked the disciples to keep watch with Him but they all fell asleep instead. Each time when Jesus returned from praying He would find the disciples sleeping soundly. He asked them, "could you not watch with me for one hour?" Jesus was going through a very stressful time so much that while He was praying He was sweating great drops of blood. There is medical/scientific name for this condition which can indeed happen when someone is under a great amount of stress. I can't think of the medical term for this right now, I will search it out, but if you know what it is please let me know. Here is the one time that Jesus really needed some support and only for one hour, but they all fell asleep on Him. Evidently the disciples didn't seem to take this as more important than getting their sleep. If you have a servant's heart then you might be able to relate a little to the heart of Jesus and His desire for them to keep watch with Him. Jesus said that whoever is chief among you will be servant of all. True servants are leaders, they will support, lead, guide, protect, comfort, encourage, stand alongside and help carry the burdens of others, they will sacrifice their own comforts for the comfort of another. Others may perceive a true servant as a strong independent leader who doesn't need the support/comfort or encouragement from others, but this is far from the truth! If anyone needs to be comforted at times it is those who have a servant's heart. Why does it seem that when a servant is in time of need and or in distress everyone that he has served has now gone to sleep on him? They might think to themselves, "he will be alright, after all he is strong and will be fine." Even though the servant has specified his need for some comfort and support they will ignore him and continue to do what they desire for themselves. Jesus in all of His love and grace didn't hold this against the disciples but only questioned their lack of concern for Him. This made me sad as I thought about Christ's love for the disciples but their lack of concern for Him. That is one thing that I have been thinking about. What are your thoughts on this?

Here is something else that I have been thinking about. "Being still" in other words having a peace of mind and not fretting about things and placing our trust in God for our lives. After all the praying, asking and wondering why, doesn't there come a time when we just need to be still before the Lord and know without doubt that He has heard our prayers and knows our condition and now the time has come to trust Him with our lives? What are your thoughts?

More thoughts: Have you ever wondered what the future holds for your own personal life here in this world? Have you often wondered if things are going to get better or if things are going to get worse? And if things are only to get worse then why must the misery here be prolonged, what good does it do? Maybe it keeps our hope and desire alive to long for a better home? Even if things were grandiose here I truly believe that I would still be a witness of a better home and a far better place to come. Whether things are bad or whether things are good I still know and realize that there is a far better place that I will one day call home and I will continue to tell others of this place as well. So why am I still here? This brings me to my next question of thought. Is perhaps the only reason we are still here is because we are a benefit to others in being a witness of Christ Jesus? So if I stop making myself available to others as to be a witness or helper of some sort would I then be taken out of this world?  What are your thoughts?

Some more thoughts. I don't understand why many people/Christians will say that it takes suffering for them to draw close to the Lord. What this says to me is that they are only drawing close to the Lord when they are in need of something. Isn't this selfish of them, because when things are going well they say that they do not draw close to the Lord, but as soon as things take a turn for the worse  they begin to draw close to the Lord. How does this make the Lord feel? Shouldn't we be praising, thanking and drawing close to the Lord when things are going well? If my children didn't rejoice in my goodness toward them and thank me for my love and grace in the joys of life, this would make me feel very sad, because after all I enjoy seeing them rejoicing in my love and gifts of blessings. If they only came to me when things were bad this would make me feel used. I would desire them to come to me in the midst of their heartaches of course but not to forget me in the midst of their joys. What are your thoughts?

Well that's about it, there are some of the things that I have been thinking about, give me your thoughts.

Why Jesus?

I was eight years old when I was born again. I was at church camp and the teacher was talking to us about Jesus, and the suffering of the cross that He endured just for us. As a child I can remember intently listening to the message and taking it all in. As she explained the sufferings of Jesus and all that He had to go through my heart was breaking, I almost couldn't bear to hear it, (even to this very day it is very hard for me to think about Jesus and the torture that He had to endure) tears were streaming down my face, but when she got to the part of the joy and victory of His resurrection and how Jesus defeated the devil, my tears were now tears of joy instead of sorrow.

When it was time to come to the altar and pray, I got right up and knelt down at the altar and my prayer as an 8 year old child went something like this:

Jesus, I am so sorry that you had to go through all that suffering and pain because of sin. And you did that just for me and the whole world. Thank you Jesus for doing that for me, because now I can be with you some day. I continued to cry and tell Jesus how sorry I was because of His pain but I also was crying and telling Jesus how thankful I was that He did that for me so that I could be with Him one day. That was pretty much my whole prayer pouring forth from a child's heart.

It was later on in life that I began writing poetry. I would like to share my very first poem that I wrote. It is a poem based upon my salvation experience as a child.

WHY JESUS?

Why Jesus, why did you die for me?

Why Jesus, why did you give me life eternally?

Why did you do this for me?

You hung on that awful cross and you suffered and died

But as you hung on that cross you beckoned me to your side

Why Jesus?

My sin was your agony

My sin was your pain

My sin was your humility

It is my sin

It is me to blame!

Why Jesus?

That kind of love is hard to comprehend

I was hurting you, yet you freed me from my sin

Why Jesus?

Through your blood-stained tears it is me that you see

I was hurting you, yet you were loving me

Why Jesus?

It is love, it is amazing love!

Tamela Greenwell

For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire

Duet. 4:24 says it all. The Lord your God is a consuming fire.

Are there times when you will look around and say where is God at? You will think He is so far away. Because you're struggling with a problem you just can't be rid of, even though you have fought with all your might to overcome, but still no victory. Does the road look to long or too high? Do you think to yourself I just can't do it, I'll never be able to have the victory? You say, oh well this is my lot in life. I guess this is the way I'll be till I die. Or you have said, life is to hard, I give up.

Well have I got good news for you. Our God is a consuming fire. He wants to burn up your problems to get them out of your life. He is waiting to consume your situation no matter what it is. It is all up to you. He is waiting for us to hand it over to him and when we do He will take it and burn it out of our lives.

Take forgiveness for example: We can say oh I forgive them because the Word says to forgive and I am trying to be obedient to the Word. But forgiveness must be of the heart not the mind. The Lord is the one that changes the heart. You see, He takes our hearts of stone and makes them hearts of flesh. When He does that He has to consume some things in our life. He has to burn out some things. He uses a refiners fire to make us pure. I have seen what fire does, it is hungry, it will consume everything until it is all gone. That is what the Lord does, He consumes it until it is completely gone, because He is hungry to bring you to the place as He sees you. His child redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Glory to His Name. He brings us from Glory to Glory, from one level to another level. All of this so that He can prepare you to be the bride without spot or blemish, beautified for the groom.

So today let Him consume you. Let Him refine you. Let Him take you to the next level in Him. He has said You shall not be ashamed. What you will do is rejoice in the King of kings and the Lord of lords and praise Him for the greatness of His love and grace.
Shalom
Joe