John 12:32 NLT
And when I am lifted up from the
earth, I will draw everyone to
myself.”
When people
talk about and live for Jesus, others see and hear and are changed. That’s our prayer. Right?
Everyone was
praises God because of the things that they have experienced or seen God do. Things were changing in Jesus’ day as they
are in ours. When people follow God,
things happen. I want to see things
happen in big ways. If we will simply
work together and share His story, we will experience the most powerful moved
of God we’ve ever imagined.
When Jesus
left the earth, some people thought that no miracles would happen again, but
they were wrong. The works of God didn’t
stop with the absence of Jesus’ physical body.
In fact it is God’s word through us that continues to amaze and lead people
to not stop praising God.
What’s your
story?
The struggles
of this life are real. We have all been
there, yet how we deal with those struggles says a lot about faith and dictates
the presence or the absence of our joy.
We must see things and people from God’s perspective.
Jesus told
those who followed Him to be ready for tough days. There would be people who would not accept them,
or accept us. That’s a difficult
perspective to have.
John 15:18 NASB
If the world hates you, you know that
it has hated Me before it hated you.
The choice to
follow Him and worship His is what will keep our joy real and strong. It is not about our happiness or even our
contentment. Joy has to do with the
choice to give our struggles and even our inner passions and desires. God is the reason for our joy. God is the originator of our joy.
It is our
choice who we are going to serve, but the choices of who we are going to serve
often are very different from the choice between good and evil. It is reason a choice between doing it my way
or God’s way.
Joshua 24:15 NASB
If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you
will serve: whether the gods
which your fathers served which
were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are
living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Turn that
direction to when Jesus was serving and sharing what His father said with the
people He encountered. The word
compassion sticks out for me. Jesus
desired to change lives.
To be changed
is a process, and the choice of who to serve and worship is a piece of it or
the beginning of it.
Mark 1:41 NLT
Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he
said. “Be healed!”
God is willing
to work in our lives. Maybe we are right
at the start or His best is just over the next hill. But realize that when God changes you there
is someone else that needs to hear your story or listen to what God is doing in
your life.
Mark 6:34 NLT
Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped
from the boat, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.
I’ve been that
sheep. Have you? I bet you have, yet the presence of the
shepherd will change everything. He
changes our perspective. He changes the
way we love. He changes the way we deal
with people.
I pray that
God will be honored in the way I look at Him and the way I serve others. And I confess that I believe that right
around the corner are some of the best days.
They won’t come my way because I’m happy. They will come my way because I choice joy
that comes for worshipping and following Jesus.
Remember that
is Jesus that we lift up when we tell the story and when we share our
experiences. Nothing else will lead to
God being honored and lives being changed.
Then the name of our Lord Jesus
will be honored because of the way you live, and you will be honored along with
him. This is all made possible because of the grace of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ.
May others see
Jesus through our every day words and actions!!!
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