Good evening everyone,
I was replying to an email today and I kind of got on a roll, so I decided why retype it, so I didn’t. I typed it for me but you make it true for you, ok? Anyway, thanks everybody for keeping me and especially my family in your prayers. Also please remember to pray for my brother in law Brett and his family in Oklahoma. He is battling cancer.
When it comes down to brass tacks, doctors really aren’t that amazing. I mean thank God for them, but they don’t know a whole lot, really. More often than not, they are just managing symptoms. Real medical cures are few and far between with the exception of antibiotics. No, we need something better, something more powerful, more reliable. We need a Healer.
Good news, we have one! Jesus Christ, the faithful and true, is our Healer.
Recently things have not looked good around here. At times my vision for the future has shrunk to just getting the next breath.
I have to admit, my hopes have faded, but the Lord is restoring them, thanks be to God. Even though man’s faith fails, God is still faithful. His grace brings me back, time after time, to the truth. God is real. He is living, from forever to forever. He loves me, really truly loves me !! jesus was really born of a virgin,, really lived on this earth as a man, really died a horrible criminal’s death, for my sins. Really was beaten, not just by the soldiers, but by the hand of God. He bore my sicknesses, He carried my pains. He was sentenced to death, which I deserved. He went to hell. I should have, but He took my place. He defeated the devil stripped him of all power, and paraded him around heaven and hell. He took His blood, the most costly and precious substance in the universe, and cleansed the temple in heaven with it. He put that blood on the altar, forever erasing my sins, even the ones I haven’t done yet. He was actually raised from the dead, walking physically among us for forty days or so, then he ascended into heaven where He sits today at the right hand of God the Father, forever living to make intercession for me. I have access to the Creator, my Father, through the blood of Christ. Now, when God looks at me, He sees me through the blood and I am clean, pure and free. Free from sin, shame, sickness, poverty and every other curse, free to live long and be well , free to be a blessing to others. Jesus loves me! He is real and he loves me!
While things in this earth are not yet perfect, and I may not yet be obtaining everything He bought for me, yet, this I know ; Jesus loves me. He has never and will never leave me. He paid it all for me. When everyone else has spent every last shred of patience and they are way past done, His has just barely begun.
Keeping Him in mind is the challenge.
You would think it would be easy to remember the truth. why does the world get in the way of the truth? I know the truth and the truth makes me free. And so, the world must yield to the truth. Praise God!!
Healed and whole,
Twinkletoes
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Stormy Weather
Good afternoon everybody,
Matthew 8 tells a familiar story, one that I want us to ponder today.
18 When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he instructed his disciples to cross to the other side of the lake.
23 Then Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with his disciples. 24 Suddenly, a fierce storm struck the lake, with waves breaking into the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
26 Jesus responded, “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!” Then he got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm.
27 The disciples were amazed. “Who is this man?” they asked. “Even the winds and waves obey him!”
Notice that right at the start of this story, Jesus gave His disciples a job to do, a goal, a directive. So in His mind, it was as good as done. So he decided to get some shut eye. Even when the waves literally broke into the boat, soaking Him, He refused to let the devil steal His rest. Remember, He said cross to the other side. So they will.
Now the disciples were not that confident. Sure they heard from the Lord. They had a job to do and they were putting everything they had into it. Completely sold out, living for Jesus.
But while they were out there, a deadly storm appeared out of nowhere. It looked like and felt like there was no way possible, no cure, no escape. In their eyes, this was it. They were goners. BUT did the goal change, ‘cross to the other side’? No. And who is with them in the boat? The Man who they watched cast out devils, feed multitudes, and heal scores of thousands of sick people. He is right there with them, but… Is He aware of the situation? I mean, fast asleep while being drenched. Not very aware.
How many of us have been there, in the middle of a storm that screams, ‘I am taking you out’? And it seems as though if Jesus is there, He somehow doesn’t quite understand the gravity of it all. In another account of the same story, the disciples asked Jesus if He cared that they were drowning. Have you been there?
I, and my family, are in that kind of storm right now. Medical reports go from bad to worse. In the natural, all hope is gone. BUT, did the goal change? NO!! Did Jesus say to try to cross to the other side, unless you run into a problem? No. He said that He would be with us, never leave us. He said he overcame, to be of good cheer.
Friends, it will look like you have lost your marbles when you say God’s word about your situation. They will think you are in denial. Nuttier than a fruitcake. But when your boat is sinking and there is only one lifeline, the living Word, you have a choice.
The disciples were sure they were sunk. Water was coming in faster than they could bail it out. As soon as they could get up, another wave would knock them off their feet again. But when they woke up Jesus, did he say ‘I understand, boys, this problem is a big problem. Good thing you got me up!’ no, he didn’t say that. He apparently had expected something more from them. He said why are you so afraid? Where is your faith? (if I were there, I might have thought, ‘it left with that last wave that knocked me down.) =)
That is a tall order. Not being afraid. Were they supposed to just keep rowing as if there was no storm? No, that would be denial. Did Jesus actually expect them to do something about the storm? Like He did?
We are not the healer. We can’t scrunch up our eyes, say Jesus name three times and make the symptoms disappear. But we can do something. We can focus on the goal. There is a destiny, a plan for our hope and future. We can agree in our hearts and out loud with what the living, powerful Word says about our storm. This is not denial. It is setting the thermostat of our lives with the most powerful heat pump in the universe!
Recently I have been full of fear, absolutely tormented by it night and day. I gave the devil a place and he took it. Today I renew my commitment to be fear free. Sounds impossible, but with God all things are possible. Please pray for me and my family. I love y’all dearly!
Healed by His stripes,
Nancy Bass
Matthew 8 tells a familiar story, one that I want us to ponder today.
18 When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he instructed his disciples to cross to the other side of the lake.
23 Then Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with his disciples. 24 Suddenly, a fierce storm struck the lake, with waves breaking into the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
26 Jesus responded, “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!” Then he got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm.
27 The disciples were amazed. “Who is this man?” they asked. “Even the winds and waves obey him!”
Notice that right at the start of this story, Jesus gave His disciples a job to do, a goal, a directive. So in His mind, it was as good as done. So he decided to get some shut eye. Even when the waves literally broke into the boat, soaking Him, He refused to let the devil steal His rest. Remember, He said cross to the other side. So they will.
Now the disciples were not that confident. Sure they heard from the Lord. They had a job to do and they were putting everything they had into it. Completely sold out, living for Jesus.
But while they were out there, a deadly storm appeared out of nowhere. It looked like and felt like there was no way possible, no cure, no escape. In their eyes, this was it. They were goners. BUT did the goal change, ‘cross to the other side’? No. And who is with them in the boat? The Man who they watched cast out devils, feed multitudes, and heal scores of thousands of sick people. He is right there with them, but… Is He aware of the situation? I mean, fast asleep while being drenched. Not very aware.
How many of us have been there, in the middle of a storm that screams, ‘I am taking you out’? And it seems as though if Jesus is there, He somehow doesn’t quite understand the gravity of it all. In another account of the same story, the disciples asked Jesus if He cared that they were drowning. Have you been there?
I, and my family, are in that kind of storm right now. Medical reports go from bad to worse. In the natural, all hope is gone. BUT, did the goal change? NO!! Did Jesus say to try to cross to the other side, unless you run into a problem? No. He said that He would be with us, never leave us. He said he overcame, to be of good cheer.
Friends, it will look like you have lost your marbles when you say God’s word about your situation. They will think you are in denial. Nuttier than a fruitcake. But when your boat is sinking and there is only one lifeline, the living Word, you have a choice.
The disciples were sure they were sunk. Water was coming in faster than they could bail it out. As soon as they could get up, another wave would knock them off their feet again. But when they woke up Jesus, did he say ‘I understand, boys, this problem is a big problem. Good thing you got me up!’ no, he didn’t say that. He apparently had expected something more from them. He said why are you so afraid? Where is your faith? (if I were there, I might have thought, ‘it left with that last wave that knocked me down.) =)
That is a tall order. Not being afraid. Were they supposed to just keep rowing as if there was no storm? No, that would be denial. Did Jesus actually expect them to do something about the storm? Like He did?
We are not the healer. We can’t scrunch up our eyes, say Jesus name three times and make the symptoms disappear. But we can do something. We can focus on the goal. There is a destiny, a plan for our hope and future. We can agree in our hearts and out loud with what the living, powerful Word says about our storm. This is not denial. It is setting the thermostat of our lives with the most powerful heat pump in the universe!
Recently I have been full of fear, absolutely tormented by it night and day. I gave the devil a place and he took it. Today I renew my commitment to be fear free. Sounds impossible, but with God all things are possible. Please pray for me and my family. I love y’all dearly!
Healed by His stripes,
Nancy Bass
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