In the last post, we discussed Matthew 7:21-23. In that passage, Christ states that there will be those who call Him "Lord" that will not enter into the kingdom of heaven. This group will declare their works before Him. They will point out how they performed healings in His name and cast out demons in His name. His response to these declarations is surprising, "Depart from me; I never knew you." How do we know we will not be part of the that hears this? I mean, casting out demons seems like a pretty big thing, right? Healing the sick - the disciples did that, right? So, what are we missing in this passage? I believe the answer is in verse 21. "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven." Have you ever thought about what that means? What is "the will of the Father"? Do you know? All my life, I have heard people talk about the will of God. Prayers for "God's will" to be done have echoed in times of trouble throughout church houses, homes, and hospitals. In Matthew 7:21, Christ states that only those who do the will of the Father gain entry into heaven. So, let's spend some time trying to understand precisely what the "will of the Father" might be. John 6:39-40 In this passage, Jesus says, "39And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I shall lose none of those He has given Me, but raise them up at the last day. 40For it is My Father's will that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." So, according to this statement - made by Christ- it is the Father's will that we look to the Son, believe in Him, and obtain everlasting life. And don't miss that last part- that Christ himself will raise us up on the last day. This principle of encountering Christ followed by believing in Christ as the Father's will for us is displayed again in Matthew 12. Matthew 12:46-50 46 While He was still talking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak with Him. 47 Then one said to Him, "Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You." 48 But He answered and said to the one who told Him, "Who is My mother and who are My brothers?" 49 And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, "Here are My mother and My brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother." Think about this The disciples each had a personal encounter with Christ resulting in a deeply rooted belief that when He said "Follow me" these men dropped everything and did just that. Their thoughts, actions, and words filtered through the view that Christ was the son of God. Their faith in Christ overshadowed any idea of worldly gain or comfort. The need to learn from Him, and spend time with Him, enveloped every aspect of their life. I challenge you to self-examine your life. Are your actions, thoughts, and words controlled and filtered through a belief in Christ? Is that belief strong enough to alter how you live daily? Let me put it this way. Matthew 8:28-34 and Mark 1:23-24 give examples of demons recognizing Christ's power and authority as the Son of God. In the first chapter of Job, satan himself acknowledges he cannot overcome the protection God has surrounding Job. He is basically admitting in this passage the sovereign authority of God. Even though they are demonic beings, they know who He is. Yet they are still demons. Their belief isn't deep enough to alter how they live day to day, moment to moment. WHERE DOES YOUR BELIEF "STOP" IN THE IMPACT IT HAS ON YOUR LIFE? DOES YOUR BELIEF IN THE SON OF GOD EFFECT YOUR VERY EXSISTENCE MOMENT BY MOMENT? OR JUST IN TIMES OF TROUBLE? OR ONLY ON SUNDAYS? Search deep within yourself. Is it possible that you are in the same place as the rich young ruler in Matthew 19:16-24? Knowing who Christ is, calling Him Lord but without a deeply rooted strong belief that alters the way you live your life? Recap *The will of the Father is that we believe in the Son for everlasting life and to be raised up by the Son in the last day. (John6:39-40) * Christ shows that this belief is more than just performing good works in His name and calling Him "Lord". He also says that only those who do the will of the Father will enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 7:21-23) *Christ declares the disciples to be an example of someone doing the will of the Father. (Matthew 12:46-50) And that is what we will explore in the next few blogs, what does "doing the will of the Father" look like when lived out in our daily lives. Until then, I love you! God loves you so much more! Molly Yeah...Yeah... I know what you are thinking - "He is Jesus! Of course, He knows me!" Or maybe Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you..." passed through your mind. LOL I can almost hear several of you saying "Duh - even the hairs on my head are numbered and known by Him according to Luke 12:7" And all of those responses are correct, so then what do we do with Matthew 7:23 where Christ clearly says that He will declare to some, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!" For many years, I would breathe a sigh of relief upon hearing the last few words of that statement. Automatically drawing comfort from the fact that I was not a "lawbreaker" or "criminal". A closer look at the entire passage though brings the need to really self-examine one's relationship with Christ carefully. So, let's dig deeper.... What is said by Christ here? What is the setting? Who is He talking to? The passage is part of "the sermon on the mount". Jesus is now being followed by multitudes of people. People from ALL walks of life gather to hear Him speak. Just before the passage we are discussing, Christ describes how broad and wide the way to destruction is compared to the narrow, difficult way leading to life. He speaks a word of caution against false prophets. We are encouraged by Him here to be "fruit inspectors". Christ assures us we will be able to distinguish teachers of truth from false by the "fruit" their life bears out. In Matthew 7:19 Jesus goes as far as to state every tree not bearing good fruit will be cut down. As if that was not interesting enough - Christ then declares in Matthew 7:21-23 "Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord," shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!" LET THAT SINK IN.... There will be people who have cast out demons in the name of Jesus, declared prophesy in the name of Jesus, and/or called Him "Lord" who will be told by Christ, 'Depart - I do not know you'. These people obviously "know" Christ - they call Him "Lord". They work, serve and perform miracles in His name. Yet Jesus says He does not know them, claims no relationship to them and denies them entry into His Father's kingdom. So, what does this passage say to us? How do we apply this to our life? How can we be sure we do not fall into the group that is denied entry? How do we move past the point of us knowing Jesus to a place of Jesus knowing us? The answer is in the passage. In verse 21 Christ says, "he who does the will of My Father" will enter into the kingdom of heaven. What is the will of the Father? Do you know? Have you ever pondered (my hubby's favorite word)? We will discuss this in Part 2! Coming soon! Love you so much - God loves you so much more! Until next time, Molly "And the Lord passed by HIm and proclaimed" How long has it been since the Lord passed by and proclaimed something to you? If it's been a while, ask your self why? Who do you think changed or moved in a different place? Maybe you are sitting there right now thinking, "God doesn't do that anymore" or "I'm not even sure who God is!" Well guess what? God doesn't change. He is the same from everlasting to everlasting. can you think of anything else that unwaivering, that constant, that strong? So why not take the time to discover who He is. Who Is God? For the past couple of months I have heard multiple people say as the “church” or “body of Christ”, we have forgotten who we are. I think it is more than that. WAY MORE. We have forgotten who God is. Many of us have never taken the time to really study out whom we belong to. The power He holds, the love He has for us, His desire to have us close to HIm is beyond comprehension for our human minds. But that knowledge is exactly what we must try to understand to get back to a place of power, holiness and love as the “church” or “body of Christ”. In Exodus 34:5-7 God reveals His character, His very nature to Moses. Now the LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation." Let’s Look at Verse Six Today. Merciful and Gracious and Longsuffering, Abundant in Goodness and Truth Mercy – God shows so much mercy. He is so full of compassion toward us. His heart breaks for us. His word says he draws nigh to the broken hearted. We do not have to prove ourselves worthy of Him, but rather He desires to make us better. His word says His plans and thoughts of us are good, prosperous. Grace – I love this definition of grace. "to bend or stoop in kindness to an inferior; to favor, or to bestow." It is grace, given to the undeserving. That is exactly what God does for us when we allow Him to. This all powerful Father who controls every element of life and death takes the time to not only design us but to actively pursue us for a relationship with Him. A relationship that lasts for eternity. He is the giver of perfect gifts. He bestows on us blessings we are not even aware of. Longsuffering – God is slow to anger. He is the God of second chances. I am living proof of multiple chances. ;-) *Want the story? Message me. Or wait for God to reveal that blog post.* His word tells me nothing can separate us from His love. Let that sink in. It is never too late to make the turn back to the Father or come to Him for the first time. Our choices will have consequences, He loves us enough to make sure we learn and grow from our mistakes. But isn’t that what all good parents want for their children? Long suffering for our benefit, Patient with our failures. Abundant in Goodness and Truth.—God is love. God is good. All the time. Even when we don’t understand. He has a plan. He has a desire for us to be in a relationship with Him. I mean think about it this way. If you were at Walmart and you saw a Dad letting his 6 year old run around the parking lot, you would think he was crazy. Or if you witnessed a Father letting his daughter drink and drive you would probably call the cops right? So why do we expect our heavenly Father to love us any less? His goodness can be painful at times but it is also an act of Divine Love, of a desire for our goodness, our benefit. God is Truth. He cannot lie. Read His Word. Know His Word. Take the time to not just be a “picky eater” of the word, But savor it. Don’t choose just the tasty morsels but dine on the entire full course meal. You will be better off for it. You will come to know who He is and the fullness only He can provided. Until Next time – Molly Who is God?
Did an answer to that question immediately pop into your head? May be something like “the Almighty Creator” or “the Alpha and Omega” or my personal favorite “The Redeemer of Mankind”. But who or what is he to you personally? Close your eyes for a moment and imagine you encounter someone on a normal day – maybe at the supermarket or at work – that has never been exposed to God. How would you explain who He is? On my journey, I quickly realized I could not adequately discover who I was until I settled once and for all who He was. How could I claim to be a child of someone that I barely knew? How many people currently do the same thing? Really think about it for a minute. What is your personal knowledge of God? How deep does it go? I grew up in church, attended regular services most of my adult life, volunteered at all the programs and had a great knowledge of the bible. But on a personal, within my heart level, there just wasn’t a lot of true relationship there. So first I challenge you to really examine your relationship, your knowledge of God. 1 -Is it surface? Is HE more like the sweet cashier you see every Tuesday morning at the supermarket? You know what I mean. You recognize Him. You know His name and maybe a few details of His life and vice versa. But that’s it. There is no intimacy or true relationship. 2- Is it mechanical? Is He the spare tire you pull out when everything else has let you down? The go to fix for life’s heavy days. You can handle everyday stuff – He just needs to take care of the BIG things. 3-Is it traditional? You go to service. You even show up on Wednesday night. You serve, you volunteer. Heck you even pay your tithes – to the penny! But nothing changes. You go into the building, you leave the building. And whatever happens there, stays there. *Hint: God does not intend for church to be Vegas! :-) Be honest with yourself – It has the power to change your life. Forever. Eternally. At one time in my life, I answered yes to all of those questions. Then things changed. God desires so much more than this. He is so much more than those things. Over the next few post – this is what we will discover. This is what we will learn about. Who God is. Who we can be in Him, Thru Him. Think about who He is to you. Who you are to Him. And what definition your relationship has. Be Honest with yourself. Would He be an acquaintance like the cashier? Or a close friend whom you call every day? Let’s explore this together. So stay tuned and Let the journey continue….. I have a few questions for you. Oh come on they are easy :-)
Question 1- Who are you? Have you ever really asked your self that question? I mean think about it- as women we play so many roles. Mom, friend, driver, cook, caregiver, wife, play mate, lover, teacher - and those are just inside our homes! If you work or volunteer outside of the home those things just began to scratch the surface! Question 2 - Have you gone to bed at the end of the day and just felt like a failure? That no matter how hard you tried to be everything to everyone, you just could not measure up? Question 3 - Have you ever struggled to get out of bed in the morning, simply because you knew you could never accomplish it all? That feeling of being so overwhelmed. I have answered yes to all of these. There were days I could not imagine facing the same failures again. To see the disappointment in my daughter's face, to hear the frustration in my husband's voice. Then I realized something - this was not the life God planned for me. I'm not talking about my marriage, my family. But this mere existing from day to day. The frustration, disappointments, the feeling of complete failure. The person I had become was not the person God had designed me to be. So I set out on a journey to rediscover who I was, who He meant for me to be. And the the things I realized changed my life. And guess what the same things are true of you. So listen up butter cup, Get that cup of coffee or glass of water and keep reading. We all need to be reminded of just Who we are from time to time. 1. You are a creation of the Almighty God. Designed exclusively by HIM. Let that sink in. The One that created the universe took the time to create you.But He didn't just throw together random stuff. Psalm 139:13 says that He knits us together in our Mother's womb. If you have ever knitted you know the process. The yarn is chosen with care. The pattern is thought through with detail. And the work is tediously completed. 2. You are created in HIS image. Genesis 1: 26-31 says He created both male and female in HIS image. Oh and notice in verse 28 the word "blessed'. And in verse 31, when God looked upon everything He had made, That includes the woman, He concluded that it was Very Good. 3. You are loved by God the Father. Not because of your accomplishments or the amount of work you do. Just simply because.Romans 5:8 reassures us that no matter our failures, our current state of being - God loves us. 4.You are Loved by God in the same way He loved Christ. Think about that. I can not imagine the love God had for His son. As Christ prayed for the disciples and you in John 17 ( yes that's right - He prayed for you! Look at verse 20) He made the statement that God loved us the same as He loved Christ - vs 23. This whole prayer of Christ changed my outlook on my life. In vs 20, He states that He is praying for those who believe. This meant me. And you too if you believe in Christ. Think about that - Christ himself prayed for us. Let's look at what HE prayed. vs 21 - that we would be one with HIM and the Father vs 22 - That we share in the Glory God has given Him vs 23 - that we be made perfect vs 24 - Christ desires us to be with HIM So if Christ prayed these things for me and you, why do we struggle so much? For me I had lost sight of the love God had for me. My perspective had been altered. The enemy had stolen my joy and confused my priorities. So how to fix this you ask? How do I go from dreading the day to embracing every morning? It's too much to put in one post but I begin everyday by reading Romans 8 - especially 31 - 38. I can't help but feel like a superhero afterwards. :-) So I challenge you to do the same. Get up a few minutes early - read this passage. And really let it settle in your heart. Nothing can separate you from the love of God, and nothing in this world can stop you IF you are found in GOD. Keep smiling my friend - we will get thru this together. There is so much more to life than just existing! Stay tuned for more..... |
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July 2022
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