FREEDOM

FREEDOM/ Feb. 16^th, 2014

When you hear the word REJECTION, what do you think about?  A name or label that has identified you at some point in your life?  Or do you think of those YOU reject?  Maybe you think of those rejected in our society?  The poor, dumb, smelly, outcasts, drunks, weak, ugly, too fat, too skinny, homeless, addicts, crazies…etc.

REJECTION is one of those negative words in our lives that God literally uses for good.  If you are feeling REJECTED today, then I have good news for you.  God has specifically called the REJECTED.    

This leads me to my WORD for today and it is found in 1 Corinthians 26-31;  Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when God chose you.  Not many of you were considered wise by human standards.  Not many of you were powerful.  Not many of you belonged to important families.  But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise.  He chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.  God chose the things of this world that are common and looked down on.  He chose what is not considered to be important to do away with what is considered to be important.  So NO ONE can brag to God.  Because of what God has done, YOU belong to Christ Jesus.  He has become God’s wisdom for us.  He makes us right with God.  He makes us holy and sets us FREE.  It is written, “The one who brags should brag about what the Lord has done.”

God needs the weak, the lowly, the REJECTED.  Why?  Because, everybody who is REJECTED by the world’s standards, needs to be set FREE.  And God came JUST to set you and me FREE.  My WORD for today is FREE!  Replace all those rejections in your head with FREE.  God has come to set you FREE.  If you sit around and brag about yourself and how smart you are, or powerful, or rich, God doesn’t accept your bragging.  Therefore, the high and lofty, proud and judgemental, the ones who REJECT God’s chosen, are actually the ones REJECTED by God. 

God has come to set you FREE from worldly REJECTION.   Lay those rejections right down at the feet of Jesus, the Son of the God of the universe who has come to set you FREE.  NO ONE has the right to reject YOU.  If they think they do, then they themselves are REJECTED by God.   He has CHOSEN YOU and you belong to Christ Jesus if you want to belong to Him. 

Here’s the cool factor, the word FREE, means God gives you the FREEDOM to choose Him.  If in this FREEDOM you choose His life to set you FREE from all that stuff that keeps you in chains, if you trade your JUNK for his HOLYINESS, and your WRONGS with His RIGHTS (v. 30) then he takes what is sin, what is weak in you and makes you STRONG in HIM!  This is why all you will have to brag about is what the Lord has done for YOU. 

I’m tired of the WORLD’s  REJECTION in my life.  I’m tired of being chained to words and labels that don’t truly define who I am.  I AM A CHILD OF THE MOST HIGH KING!  If you believe this, I pray you will CLAIM it with me today.  I challenge you today to join me by taking your REJECTIONS and replacing them with FREEDOM in Jesus Christ.  The REDEEMER of REJECTION.

HUGS!  SMJ

FEAR

FEAR / Feb. 4^th, 2014

Watch the news for less than 10mnts. and you can find at least 10 things you should fear; from cancer to car accidents, food poisoning to being held hostage at a mall, and from fires to floods to financial disasters.  Our world is FULL of fear.  Honestly, I can’t even watch the news, because I do have a weakness of FEAR of the things on this earth at times.  They creep into my heart, and I think, oh no, I hope that doesn’t happen to someone I love. I’m not sure anyone feels safe anywhere at any time anymore.  Fear of the things that can happen to us on this earth have divided us from the ONE whom we should fear.  

There is a vicious snake that has creatively used fear of many things to distract all of us from whom and what we should fear.  It’s a very clever tactic, I admit.  One we must always be aware of.  Stop and listen to yourself speaking, how many times a day do you say, I am scared of -------?  My plane crashing, the flu, my child’s school or playground, a creepy mole on my back, etc.  What are your fears?

I was reading in Deuteronomy this week and came across a few times when the phrase; “fear the Lord your God” was spoken.  One time in particular drew my attention, because it said, “O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to FEAR the LORD your God..”  Deuteronomy 10: 12  This caused me to pause and read the whole chapter again, to gain perspective of why is it that the Lord said MORE than 25 times in the Bible to FEAR Him?  I began to look up all the scriptures that speak of FEAR of the LORD.  Many of them are written as this one, like a command with a promise afterwards.  Fear the Lord and…your children will prosper, you will inherit the promise land, you will be blessed.  Other verses say the FEAR of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge.  This leads me to the WORD of the day from the WORD.  I would like to challenge US to exchange OUR version of the word FEAR that is created from earthly experiences, with God’s version of the word FEAR.  So yes, let’s exchange FEAR for FEAR.  How can we do this?

The answer is found in the WORD, of course.  “ My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the FEAR of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.” Proverbs 2:1-5.  Why would getting to know the LORD be the beginning of understanding FEAR?  Because when we FEAR the things of this earth, the things that could KILL our families and those we love, we have put all of our trust in ourselves, this is called PRIDE.  But, when we read God’s WORD, accept them, store them DEEP within our hearts and apply them to our lives, searching endlessly for God’s treasures, our focus simply switches from US to HIM.  And that my friend is a PERFECT EXCHANGE of our FEAR with FEAR OF THE LORD! 

I pray tonight you stop listening to that little snake in your ear and instead EXCHANGE your FEARS with a FEAR OF THE LORD, and start searching for that treasure as if its EVER LASTING LIFE because IT IS which is why….The FEAR of the LORD leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm.  Proverbs 19:23.  AMEN and AMEN.

HUGS!  SMJ