But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 2 Corinthians 4:4 (NIV)

Jesus has given Christians a treasure of eternal life. Eternal Life that begins now, not in the future death. So many times Christians are forward looking rather than what God has given to us right now.

Meditate on the verse--God gave us the treasure in "jars of clay." Why does Paul use language of weakness? Jars of clay are fragile waiting to be shattered. Yet, this is the image that is used.

Are we the Jars of Clay? What does Jesus' secret look like in the jars?

I belief that the secret is the eternal life that has been bestowed on us. This is something rare and valuable. No other religion in the world uses the language of right here, right now. God wants to change all of us from the inside, giving way to eternal life with HIM.

I pray that all of you have this secret in your "jar of clay" and share it every chance you get.

Reading the Word

Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. Revelation 1:3

Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 1 Peter 2:11

Looking at these two verses, one may say they have nothing in common, but reread them. What does God promise in Revelation 1:3? What does God say through 1 Peter 2:11.

I have recently relearned the importance of God's Word and the application to my life. God wants us to use His Word to ward off the evil. Only through reading and understanding God's Word can we truly be blessed!

I am sad to say most church-going folks only look at God's Word once a week (at church). This saddens me because God wants to BLESS US so much. Yet, we refuse His blessings by refusing His own Word.

Pray over this today. What can God say to you today in His Word that can relieve the stress, sin, or obstacle in your life?

A Refreshed Look at the Parable of the Sower

2He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3"Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times."

9Then Jesus said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." Mark 4:2-9 (NIV)

Many times, I,like so many Christian teachers, use this to force the listeners to identify which part they fit. I am reading a Bible Study as well as a book by McLaren (The Secret Message of Christ) and have been rocked by the spiritual truths Jesus is saying here.

Jesus most likely wanted each of the listeners to identify what part they are, but most importantly He wanted the listeners to REFLECT and realize each listener is all parts of this parable at different times. Maybe it is time for us to rethink the way we read the parables and other parts of scripture. Rather than looking for a single absolute conclusion, let us ponder the spiritual truths and allow the Holy Spirit to teach us.

Remember, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear [spiritually]"

STOP IT!

"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eath with him, and he with me." Revelation 3:20 (NIV)

Jesus is constantly at my door. I sit and ignore His call often. I do not realize the Power He holds and the salvation He offers. I have tasted eternal life with the belief in Him, but the continuous salvation I seek in this life is not in Him but the world.

An author--Carole Lewis--illustrates this in her Bible lessons. She asked today, if Jesus was physically at the door, what obstacles would I have to overcome to get to Him? What things would I hide before opening the door. I am ashamed to say that there is many.

Wow--Jesus is ALWAYS with me, yet I drift away. I try to live my life out for myself. As Carole Lewis is telling me to do--STOP IT!

Maybe the day is today for me to do this....put Jesus in my life FIRST, ALL OF THE TIME!

Proverbs 4--An eye opener

Yesterday, I was struggling with life in general. God opened this chapter to me and fed my soul...

Proverbs 4:4--my Father said, "Lay hold of my words with all your heart; keep my commands and you will live..." Wow. The truth my Father speaks is so grand--His commands bring life; inversely, rejecting His commands brings death....

He goes on and speaks of wisdom and its protection over us. This is true today with the Holy Spirit! The Wisdom God brings gives us life and protection....

The most powerful part for me, though, was verses 10-19. Keep His instructions in heart, seek righteousness, flee from wicked....the wicked destroy, they cannot sleep, the bread of wickedness and wine of violence destroys them.....\

vs. 18-19--"The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full lift of day, But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble."

In my rambles this morning, remember that seeking righteousness brings life. We may struggle with sin, but sin has no victory over us....He has won our battle for us with the Cross and Resurrection....Maybe, it is today we may life with this knowledge, not remembering the past but seeking the lively future Jesus has called us to....

God Bless

Jesus is Knocking

"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock.
If anyone hears my voice and opens the door,
I will come in and eat with him,
and he with me." Revelations 3:20 (NIV)

A powerful verse to be heard, not only as an individual but as a Church as a whole. Where is the American Church today? Divided? Carrying different agendas? Patriotism or Liberalism? Where do you fit?

In the past 16 years, I have learned that both the "Christian Right" and the "Liberal Christian Front" (as I call it) carry not the message of our Savior but of their own agendas. Instead of God's Word molding who they are, they mold God's Word around who they think they are. This is an important difference.

Maybe it is more important to soak up God's Word and put it into action rather than focusing on our other agendas.

I love Jesus! I love serving my Lord and Savior. I love the man He is molding in my life. He is knocking and I pray I am answering (not only as an individual, but a church leader that desires nothing more than He!)

Are you hearing the knocking or are you too busy????

Just a thought

The Struggle

I have struggled with overeating for several years. I love to sit done and gorge on the tasty food. I realized this past week that this was my own replacement for womanizing and alcohol. The World sees it in so much a better of light than the past sins, yet people think--just run it off or cut back a little. That is a nice thought, but the root of the overeating is SIN. I pray that God will take this desire away right now. I will continue to pray for this. Sin is nasty. All it will do is kill me.

Journey or Struggle--How does my walk with Jesus look?

Romans 7:14-25 New International Version (NIV)

14We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[a] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

21So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin


The Thought--As I struggled with Law (which in my life looked like Humanist Ethics) I thought I could overcome the world. I lived to a standard most people around me thought was AWESOME--a coach, teacher, wow...what a sacrifice I made for society. Oh yeah, btw, I did this all to lift up my own self-worth. When all the ethics failed and I fell into a depression because of the failure of my humanist beliefs, I struggled.

That is where Jesus met me in the summer of 1997. It took the entire Fall season of 1997 to convert and transform my heart, but I knew that no longer could I carry the burden of my sin.

Today I wonder what my students and others around me see--do they see my life as a journey of freedom in Christ or a struggle against the overwhelming law that I continue to seek. Just a thought...