Being honest, I’ve never really had one for myself. Since the moment I began going to church, I remember there always being a name given to the year. This is the Year of _______, fill in the blank.
Just thinking about the possibilities of all that the year would hold because of the name it was given has always been breath taking to me. If you’re a creative, or a dreamer you’ll get what I mean. The word we give our year, speaks to the words that we allow into our year.
Without a vision the people perish, words that I’ve heard and read over and over again in my Bible. So our word of the year should ultimately speak to our vision. How we see the year, our outlook on it and so much more.
I won’t share my word for the year just yet, but I wanted to speak on the topic in my first blog.
A word that has been on my heart (if I were to be honest) for a few months now.
Again, I’d like to be honest and say that even as a believer this word can definitely make one cringe, and bask all at the same time. Cringe, not because it’s a horrible word but because of what may come with surrender.
Surrender:
: the action of yielding one’s person or giving up the possession of something especially into the power of another
: the relinquishment by a patentee of rights or claims under a patent
In the beginning of our walk with God we give our life to Him, surrendering it all at His feet, just to be closer to Him, just to have more of Him. We withhold nothing and we don’t count the cost of our “yes”, we are so desperate, so hungry and so needy of Him that surrendering to him is all we truly want.
We surrender who we are to the King, exchanging who we are for who He says that we are. At that moment we think, “that’s it! I’ve done it! I have surrendered my all to Him!” We continue on our walk with Him and find out that along the journey there is more of surrendering to do and contrary to our own belief of “I’ve given it all to Jesus” at that initial encounter with Him. “What else is there to give? Right?!”
In most cases, that belief becomes so wrong over time. What I am learning is that along the journey we acquire more. More things, more belongings, more plans, more idols and more that we choose to hold dear to us. And like Abraham (in Genesis 22), there are test that come with that more, the more that He has blessed us with.
One of the questions I believe that Jesus continually ask us as His disciples and followers is “Do you love me?” (John 21:15-17) and the reason He does this is to give us assignment, to assign us to His plan and purposes. Our response is our surrender. What I am learning is that the deeper we get in our walk with God the more He’ll call us to surrender to Him. The more He’ll call us to give ourselves to Him without reservations. The more He’ll reveal what moves our heart strings, what attachments we have to what we didn’t even know we were attached to.
In my experience the initial feeling attached to surrender is fear. Fear of the future, fear of what is to come and fear of “what if I let go and it doesn’t go the way I wanted it to?”
Surrender is extremely uncomfortable, it stretches you to get outside of your self made box and embrace Jesus all over again. It forces us to challenge our religion. It forces us to see things the way that God does. It gets us walking in line with the true purposes of God.
Surrender, although scary can be so beautiful when we let go and let God. Let God have His way, let Him do His thing and allow Him to operate and flow in us the way He’d like to.
If I were to be honest, I’d have to say that I was one of those people that thought that there was a limit on our surrender, that we didn’t have to do it over and over again. Boy, was I wrong, surrender is a part of the Christian walk. It is something that continues on, something that we’ll be asked or prompted to do over and over again, with purpose and for purpose.
I can’t say that the feelings that swarm our hearts within the experience of surrender gets any better over time but what I am learning is that it is okay to acknowledge them. It is ok to feel, it is okay to express to God the moments of suspense we experience. The moments of despair, where it seems as if we’re loosing everything. It is okay to voice our expectations to Him. It is okay to talk openly with God. It is okay to surrender bit by bit and moment by moment, with one foot and then the next. Surrender isn’t a one time thing, it is a process. It is normal to wrestle within yourself about the concept of surrender. God is not allergic to you, He isn’t allergic to walking with you in the process, He is committed to our surrender and He will take His time with us. God is committed to our growth, and in our growth, no matter what it may look like.
…is a word that is oftentimes mistaken for the word happiness.
Happiness in my own words is a feeling that one gets based on the external. The external may consist of, but is not limited to circumstances, an event, the result of something, the way one was/is made to feel and the like.
Joy on the other hand is based on the internal, not the things that are happening on the outside. Joy is something that is naturally placed on the inside of every believer. It is the fruit of the Holy Spirit and it is not based on circumstances or what may be happening.
This means that no matter what may be going on in the life of a believer they can still experience unspeakable and uncomprehending joy. Have you ever had a moment where someone wanted to know how you could have joy in that moment? Maybe it was a moment of difficulty? Maybe through a moment of suffering? Maybe everything at that very moment was going opposite the way you thought it would?
But someway and somehow on the inside of you there was joy. Maybe this joy might of even surprised you at one moment or another; not because you didn’t know you had it but because you experienced it in the mist of all you were going through.
Jesus Christ told his disciples while eating with them one day to wait for something:
Acts 1:4-5 NLT
Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
The Holy Spirit, is God’s presence in us, gifted to us (believers) from our Father in heaven.
Not only is the Holy Spirit a gift but there is also fruit that come with this gift. The fruit is called the fruit of the Spirit and it consists of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Joy as well as the other fruit are naturally on the inside of us once we become believers. They are cultivated and are shown more within and on the outside of us as we allow ourselves to depend on them (the fruit of the Spirit) throughout our daily living.
The Holy Spirit is a promise and a gift, one we can’t ever be too filled of. In my opinion it’s the best promise and gift God makes in all of the Bible, a gift and promise that belongs to every single believer.
No life is perfect, but as we live we can allow the Holy Spirit to guide us as well as choose to be lead by the Spirit in our actions, words, thoughts and conduct, through it’s fruit. Joy IS present on the inside of us even in the worst of circumstances.
I believe we all (as believers) have been there at one time or another. There, being where the inside of us completely did not match what was going on externally, where all hell was breaking loose but there was still an overwhelming joy flowing from the inside of you.
Biblical joy, here’s a note taken from biblestudytools.com “Joy is rooted in who God is. It is not fleeting or based on circumstances. Worldly possessions, accomplishments, even the people in our lives, are blessings that make us happy and fuel joyfulness. However, the Bible teaches that the source of all joy is Jesus.”
While studying for this blog I learned that a smile may not always accompany joy but that doesn’t mean that joy isn’t present. A smile may help and add to this joy and doesn’t hurt at all to have. I also learned that joy can be present while other emotions may be present on the inside of you as well. Emotions such as grief or sadness can share space with joy, again this doesn’t mean that joy is not present within you.
reservoir
noun
res·er·voir
: a place where something is kept in store: such as
Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We house God’s whole Spirit on the inside of us. Our bodies are a reservoir of love, JOY, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.
1 Corinthians 6:19 NLT
Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself,
Romans 12:1 NLT
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.
They are all present and available for us to tap into whenever we need them. We are in this earthen vessel but we are not of it. We are of God (1 John 4:4NLT). His Holy Spirit abides in us and we are free to move, flow and operate in the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:23 NLT).
John 14:16 ESV
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,
The Holy Spirit is our Helper and the provider of the fruit we need, to walk in joy daily.
Here are a few scriptures on joy:
Romans 12:12 NLT
Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.
Philippians 4:4 NLT
Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice!
James 1:2 NLT
Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into manifold temptations;
John 16:24 NLT
You haven’t done this before. Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.
Proverbs 17:22 NLT
A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.
Psalm 30:5 NLT
For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime! Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are–yet he did not sin.
The Order of the Temptation of Jesus:
⁃ Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist
⁃ A voice came from Heaven confirming Jesus as God’s Son, whom He loves and who He is well pleased with
⁃ The Spirit sent Him into the wilderness
⁃ He was in the wilderness for 40 days being tempted by satan
⁃ Jesus said “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”
⁃ Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended Him
Note: The tempter came to Jesus and “said” after 40 days and 40 nights and when Jesus was hungry.
The Things satan Used to Tempt Jesus:
⁃ Food – Our Needs: Lust of the Body (Me, Me, Me & I)
⁃ Power – Jesus’ Own Power + Authority: Ego (Pride of Life)
⁃ Possessions – “I Will Give You”: Lust of the Eyes
⁃ he Provoked Jesus to Operate Independent From God – Questioning Jesus’ Identity (Matthew 4:6 NLT) – Prove Yourself
Independent:
: not requiring or relying on something else : not contingent
Jesus Combats the tempter:
⁃ With The Word of God
⁃ The WHOLE Truth – Quoting Scripture
⁃ Submission To The Will of God For His Life – Through His Obedience
⁃ Rebuking satan – Commanding him to “Away from me, Satan!”
Where You Can Find The Story:
⁃ Luke 4:1-14, Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:11-13
What I have learned throughout my journey, is that if I am not intentionally seeking God and the word for Who He is and not just what He can offer me, I can easily drift off into a place in the word and world that I have no business being. I must line the word of God up with my living, thinking, speaking, heart posture and allow it to test me. I must deny myself the pleasures of this life daily in order to pursue the will of the Father for me.
It is an intentional work. It is possible to be in the word or in prayer daily with the wrong intentions or the wrong heart posture. It matters that we are there to pursue Jesus and to be more like Him. It is important for us to be in prayer for more of the Holy Spirit, more wisdom and more understanding. For more selfless request and less selfish ones.
It is possible to only go to God wholeheartedly when we are in a bind or have a need (outside of just needing Him).
It is possible to completely ignore God and His correction or our pursuit of Him when everything is going well in our lives, or by making them well on our own strength.
It is possible to miss Jesus and His individual will for our lives by getting too caught up with all of the hustle and bustle that we allow to enter into our lives.
It is possible to get into a routine of spending time with God that we no longer even ask for ourselves what is needed to walk the Christian walk or are no longer on the look out for what we should be receiving from His word.
We can get to a place where we can hear and see and continue to do all the routine things of having a relationship with Jesus; but nothing on the inside of us changes anymore. We no longer recognize our desperate need for Jesus or that the fact of the matter is that there is nothing good about us. We are saved by the faith we’ve placed in Jesus Christ sacrifice, not of any works of our own. We were sinners in need of a Savior and that this is the real truth of our existence as Christ followers on this earth.
It is possible…
Hebrews 4:14 NLT
So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe.
My pursuit as a believer and the things I seek should be that of faith, hope and love. These are divine virtues. They come from our pursuit of God’s Kingdom and His righteousness.
Divine
di·vine | \ də-ˈvīn \
: of, relating to, or proceeding directly from God
Virtues
vir·tue | \ ˈvər-(ˌ)chü \
: conformity to a standard of right
: a particular moral excellence
: a commendable quality or trait
Matthew 6:33 NLT
Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
You see, there is none righteous, not one. So if we find ourselves pursuing what this world has to offer us over the presence of God, we are pursuing what is counterfeit; what truly isn’t right, what truly isn’t good, what truly isn’t beautiful. Our minds can begin to call good evil and call evil good because we are constantly seeking the things God never intended for us to seek. The things we need aren’t to be desperately sought after, they are given to us when we prioritize our seeking and our life (and of course we must work). But if our eyes are stayed on the One who is righteous, the One who is Good, the One who is Beautiful, we will be able to distinguish between what is good and what is evil.
Luke 18:19 NLT
“Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “Only God is truly good.
The enemy won’t be able to trip us up or entice us by offering to us the things of this life (the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life). We won’t have a taste for what this world calls good because we have tasted and have seen that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8 NLT). We want the good gifts (Matthew 7:11 NLT) that our Father offers, we’ll want to be satisfied by Him. We will be content with the lives we have, lives that are in complete surrender to the Father’s will.
Romans 3:10 NLT
As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous— not even one.
1 John 2:17 NLT
And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.
1 John 2:16 NLT
For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world.
Philippians 4:8 NLT
And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
Hebrews 5:14 NLT
Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.
On our own, we are poor judges of what is right, we have to look to God to determine these things for us. Our dependency on God, His word and the presence of the Holy Spirit living on the inside of us, will show us what is right.
Relying and yielding to the instruction of God, in our circumstances is what will bring us the victory. The enemies whole motive in a nutshell was to get Jesus to operate independently of God, which also means that satan wanted Jesus to operate outside of the will of God for His life.
The enemy twisted as well as left out scripture in order to try to get Jesus to operate outside of the will of God for His life. A good sign to look for in ourselves and in others regarding using scripture incorrectly is to find out the focus of our use of the scripture. Does it lead back to what we want out of it or does it lead back to Jesus and what is true? Are we using the word of God to benefit us only? Satan used scripture to tempt Jesus to either exalt himself or to serve, worship or exalt an idol or tangible things. Our focal point when using and operating with scripture matters. Is the focus to honor, glorify and exalt the name of Jesus or is it for our own exaltation? Is it for us to get better through the application of the Word or do we just want to know scripture? Do we accept the tough pills to swallow of the Word or only the ones that make us feel powerful and worthy? Do we accept the correction of the Word as well as it’s encouragement? Because we should. We should be accepting the Word of God in it’s entirety, and not in pieces. Our lives should display the glory of God in all areas. We are to operate in line with the will of God for our lives and not just pick scriptures that exalt, puff us up or go along with what we want, to follow.
The more we know scripture, hear the word and apply it to our lives, the better we’ll be at not falling prey to the enemies temptings. The more of the Word that we have hidden in our hearts the more we can follow it and the more it will come up in our decision making.
2 Timothy 3:16 NLT
All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.
What stood out to me in Luke’s account of Jesus’s time of temptation in the wilderness was that satan left Jesus until another “opportune time” presented itself.
The following scriptures describe the way satan lies in wait for a time to attack or tempt us:
1 Peter 5:8 NLT
Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.
Luke 22:31 NLT
“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat.
This guy is bold, he actually ask God to attack you and I. This isn’t something to be worried about though:
Whatever you commit to God will be tested. The fact that the enemy is after you means that you are doing something right. God gave the enemy permission to try Job and in the same breath God called Job “His servant”. God knows who you are and He knows who the enemy is trying to attack or tempt:
Job 1:8 NLT
Then the LORD asked Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil.”
Romans 5:3-4 NLT
We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.
We are to be holy as He is holy, and the way to this holiness is to walk down the path that God has forged out for each of us individually as well as collectively (as the body of Christ).
1 Peter 1:16-19 NLT
For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.” And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time here as “temporary residents.” For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.
We are to live as foreigners on this earth.
God paid the ultimate price in order to save us!
The Bible says that it is not Gods will for any man to perish (2 Peter 3:9 NLT) What this means is that He doesn’t will for anyone to to die, He wants us all to come to repentance, to live and to receive eternal life. We all were put on this earth on purpose and for purpose. The purpose that God has for each of us is different, and among not perishing we are to become His disciples. We are following after the example of Jesus Christ while we are here on this earth.
Matthew 28:19 NLT
Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Hebrews 4:16 NLT
So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
So I got to thinking about the topic of this blog because of a past experience…
In this experience I followed the experience with an action.
The action had to do with the cross and I remember saying to God:
“Well I know how to be committed to the cross, so that’s what I am going to continue to do.”
Commitment:
1. a : an agreement or pledge to do something in the future
b : something pledged
c : the state or an instance of being obligated or emotionally impelled
2. the state or quality of being dedicated to a cause, activity, etc.
3. an engagement or obligation that restricts freedom of action.
If I were to be honest in this blog I would say that we, as humans like the sound of commitment, especially when it is beneficial to us, especially when we get to gain from it, but very rarely do we gravitate to commitments that cost us, or commitments that may cause us to “lose out”.
We love commitments like marriage, where we gain a beautiful family, the American Dream and the good life. Any commitment that causes us to be like the last definition states, restricted in “freedom” of action, can’t be from God, right? “God offers us freedom, He offers us life, so anything restricting can not be from Him.” I’m just speaking out loud things that may or may not run through our mind when thinking on the word commitment or being committed to something, or someone, specifically Jesus Christ.
This then leads me to my next thought. Jesus, hung on a tree:
Deuteronomy 21:22-23 NLT
“If someone has committed a crime worthy of death and is executed and hung on a tree,the body must not remain hanging from the tree overnight. You must bury the body that same day, for anyone who is hung is cursed in the sight of God. In this way, you will prevent the defilement of the land the LORD your God is giving you as your special possession.
Jesus Christ, my Lord and my Savior, became a curse for me, and for you. He never sinned not even once, but because of His commitment to us and His commitment to the will of our Father; He made an obligation, a choice that restricted Him from His natural abilities, for you and I.
2 Corinthians 5:21-6:2 NLT
For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. As God’s partners, we beg you not to accept this marvelous gift of God’s kindness and then ignore it. For God says, “At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.” Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation.
I know at times I can somehow disregard what “Christ, who never sinned” actually means…
Jesus Christ is God, the Son of God the Father. When He came into this earth through the virgin birth (Matthew 1:18 NLT), He was still completely God. He currently still is. Just think about that for a moment. God, the Godhead, Jesus is a member, one of the three Persons of the Godhead. He is completely God, He was there and completely a part of the creation of the universe as well as the moment where man was made in God’s image; He is substantially equal to God the Father and God, the Holy Spirit. There was nothing that He could not do when He humbled Himself in a mortal body.
Philippians 2:5-8 NLT
You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
He was mocked and was told to save Himself from the cross. I don’t know if you’ve ever felt the limitation of not doing something that you knew you could do. For example, if you were skilled, wired or designed to dance, naturally, that’s what you did; but you, for one reason or another vowed not to dance for a year and committed yourself to this vow. Then someone, mockingly comes along trying to get you to dance, but you knew you couldn’t do it because of the vow you made. Wouldn’t that burn you a bit? Wouldn’t it sting you in some way? Wouldn’t you be a little bit ticked off because of it? I know I would! I give this example to say that, some commitments hurt or bruise our ego a bit, and to pose a question:
Does that mean we shouldn’t do them?
Of course Jesus never sinned, but I’m sure He could relate to the emotion one would have, because He too, was mocked about doing something that He knew that He could do.
Mark 15:29-32 NLT
Well then, save yourself and come down from the cross!” The leading priests and teachers of religious law also mocked Jesus. “He saved others,” they scoffed, “but he can’t save himself! Let this Messiah, this King of Israel, come down from the cross so we can see it and believe him!” Even the men who were crucified with Jesus ridiculed him.
He, Jesus, is completely God, of course He could save Himself. Someone may ask: Well if He could save Himself, then why didn’t He? My answer would be, because that wasn’t the will of His Father who sent Him. I know the world may oppose this truth, but doing the will of our Father is still the right choice to make. It is still the appropriate commitment for a believer, the one we are to choose. It is still the way to life (Matthew 7:14 NLT).
1 Peter 2:22 NLT
He never sinned, nor ever deceived anyone
Matthew 26:53-54 NLT
Don’t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly? But if I did, how would the Scriptures be fulfilled that describe what must happen now?”
John 6:38 NLT
For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will.
John 6:40 NLT
For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day.”
How could we look on the Son if the Son didn’t do on this earth what He came here to do?
Although His cross was gruesome, undesirable and just out right ugly, He took it up anyway and as followers of Christ we are called to do the exact same thing. No matter what our own cross has for us, we are to take it up and follow Jesus Christ. This is always easier said than done, but it can be done, it should be done.
Luke 14:27 NLT
And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.
Jesus Christ is our first and primary example of what it means to “pick up our cross” because He lived a life that demonstrated this. He showed us what it meant to pick up our cross because of the cross He bore when He took on the weight of the sins of every single human that ever lived or that will ever live on His own shoulders and suffered what He did for us all. He did all of this so that we could be in relationship with God the Father and be made right with Him.
Matthew 16:24-26 NLT
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?
Now I’m not a theologian, and there is no way that I’ll ever do this topic justice in explanation; but I do have a heart for God and a heart for people. Through Christ, you and I, are to be made right with God.
This means that although, you and I deserved what Jesus Christ faced we now get to walk away scot-free. We are free from the penalty of sin and death through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Sin actually has no hold on us, if we choose the salvation that has been offered to us by Jesus Christ, and identify with Him in His death and resurrection. The right time for us to receive this salvation is now, today is the day of salvation. May we not ignore this gift of God’s kindness.
Our pledge or promise to the cross or our own cross, could never do the word “commitment” justice. Does this mean that we shouldn’t make this pledge or promise (or “yes” Matthew 5:37 NLT)? Absolutely not. Does this mean that we should not depend on the Spirit of the Living God living on the inside of us, the same power that raised Christ from the dead (Romans 8:11 NLT) within us giving us the grace to walk out the Christian life? Absolutely not.
If God, the Father thought that we were unable to live this Christian life through Christ, He would of never sent Him to die for us. We are absolutely able to live this life, by and through the help of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God, living in us. We are unable to walk this walk by our own strength but through Christ who gives us strength we can absolutely do it. We live by faith. Faith in the finished work of the cross. Faith in what Jesus Christ did, that we could never. Faith in the work being done on the inside of us, both to will and to do for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13 KJV). We live to please our Maker, to bring His name glory on this earth, to honor Him and to love on Him.
We are able because He makes us able, not because we ourselves are able.
I’ll always takes steps (no matter how small) in the direction of commitment to the cross, not because I can on my own, be committed to it and to Jesus Christ; but because He is the one who enables me to walk with Him throughout this journey called life.
I always joke about this specific scripture and it’s popularity:
Philippians 4:13 NLT
For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.
In this passage, Paul is talking about being content in all circumstances. We often times use this scripture as a reassuring one, as one that helps us in life, on our daily assignments or regarding adventurous or daring endeavors.
… so I’ve always said to myself “and this includes following Jesus Christ”. We can follow Christ, that is a part of the everything, this is the main thing. We can not exclude truly following Christ from these “all things” (CBS version), especially not in the moments we are living in now. No, we CAN follow Christ, it is absolutely doable, no matter the circumstance. This won’t always be a commitment where we aren’t challenged in our stance, but it is a commitment that we have been given the strength to honor, it is a part of the “everything”, and the “all things” (CSB version). We can be content in our pursuit of following Jesus Christ (and Christ alone).
Content:
1. a : in a state of peaceful happiness.
b : a state of satisfaction.
Romans 8:1-5 NLT
So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit. Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.
1. be the property of.”the vehicle did not belong to him”
2. be a member or part of (a particular group, organization, or class).
First off I wanted to start with a reminder and I wanted to encourage you that you belong to God. You, yes YOU belong TO GOD. The Bible says:
In Psalm 24:1 NLT
The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him.
All the earths people belong to God. Now to be more specific about belonging to God:
1 John 4:4 NLT
But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory…because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.
It is my belief that knowing that you belong to God is the first half of winning any victory, on this side of life.
Knowing that you belong to God, knowing how important you are to Him, how special you are to Him is as important as knowing Gods word concerning any other topic in the Bible. God knitted you together in your mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13 NLT), it gets no deeper or detailed than that. You belong to God. If you have to wake up each and every single morning, look yourself in the mirror and say “I belong to God, I belong to God, I belong to God”. You should do it! I sense a peace that goes along with saying those words.
You matter to Him, you mean something to Him, you are valuable to Him. He loves you more than you’ll ever know. He withheld nothing to be near you, He withheld NOTHING to be connected to you, to have relationship with you and I just believe that it is so important that you know this truth in THIS season (and every other).
John 3:16 NLT
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
God did not even withhold His ONLY from you. His ONLY son, let that sink in! If God the Father didn’t withhold Jesus from you, what else would He not give to you!
Romans 8:32 NLT
Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?
He is the author and the perfecter of your faith (Hebrews 12:2 NLT), hold on to His promises in your seasons of difficulties. He has His own back concerning the promises He has spoken over your life! Trust Him with every fiber of your being. Believe that wherever He sends you, you belong, because you belong to Him. You are holy and His dearly beloved (Colossians 3:12 NLT), may you never forget this!
Here are some scriptures to hold onto concerning you belonging to God:
Psalm 100:3 NLT
Acknowledge that the LORD is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Isaiah 43:1 NLT
But now, O Jacob, listen to the LORD who created you. O Israel, the one who formed you says, “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine.
1 Corinthians 6:19 NLT
Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself,
Romans 8:15 NLT
So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”
John 10:28 NLT
I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me,
1 John 3:1 NLT
See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him.
2 Corinthians 1:22 NLT
and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised us.
Keep Reading…
2 Timothy 4:2 NLT
… Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not…
May you understand how wide, how long, how high and how deep His love really is for you…
So I’m back again with some more of my Trader Joe’s finds!
1st up! Anyone else an olive 🫒 lover! Olives are my thing and I found some in Trader Joe’s that are marinated in lemon and herbs. They are really tasty, again if olives are your thing and you love them as much as I do! Try them out, I eat them as is.
Next up! I actually saw these on their Instagram and I was like omgoodness! I can’t wait to try them. They are tasty on their own and over a salad. Plantain Croutons with garlic and sea salt sounds sooo good! Hats off to the person who came up with the idea.
3rd in line is my favorite ice cream from Trader Joe’s it’s their Speculoos Cookie Butter ice cream. They literally have slices of cookie butter sliding through it. This ice cream is EVERYTHING! I’ve been a fan for quite some time now, highly recommended!
Next up! Is this Organic Sparkling Apple Cider Vinegar Beverage. They come in two flavors. One is Ginger + Lemon and the other is Lemon + Strawberry. They are actual sparkling drinks. The taste is pretty unique given the apple cider vinegar, and it’s a great substitute for soda if you have cravings for soda but want to stay on the more healthy side.
Last we have our Goat Cheese and Sundried Tomato Ravioli! This is sooo delicious! I’m an all around pasta fan and my mouth is just watering thinking about it! I made this Ravioli with sautéed mushrooms, cabbage, peppers and onions and buttered garlic broccoli in a roasted garlic pasta sauce and it was everything!!! ☺️ #SoGood
Hey, so I get a lot of private messages about activity suggestions for specific ages in children. So, instead of responding to each one individually, I created this blog for you to browse through for activities for children 3mo-24mo’s. I hope it helps you!
These activities are great and there is a plus to them because they are all at-home activities.
3 Months:
Fine Motor –
1. Reaching for toys. Lay baby on her back or tummy and hold toys out for her to reach
2. Singing clapping songs and helping baby to clap his or her hands. Pat-a-cake, or these action songs for babiesare great.
3. Providing toys for little ones to grasp and mouth. Help your little one grip toys of various sizes and shapes (remember babies can choke on anything small enough to fit through a toilet paper roll.)
Gross Motor –
1. Practicing supporting his or her own head when properly supported by the waist and chest. Put babe on your lap facing you and carefully supporting her neck and back as she requires. Encourage her to look up at your face by making silly sounds and noises, smiling and giggling.
2. Tummy time. Put babe on her stomach with some brightly coloured toys in front of her. Encourage her to reach for them. Lay in front of her with a smiling face and encourage her to look at your face by pushing up on her little arms. Strengthening her little body and your bond all at the same time.
3. Change positions often. Have baby lay on her back, tummy, sit well supported, or carry her looking over your shoulder. The different views of the world will encourage her to look around to see new things. Be sure to chat with her about all she sees.
Communicating & Imitating
1. Encourage baby to follow your voice. Walk to various parts of a room and call your baby’s name. When she looks your way, be sure to respond with a smile and snuggle.
2. Encourage baby to imitate. Lay baby on your lap facing you. When she makes a facial movement or sound, imitate it back to her. Be sure to respond with smiles so she continues this form of communication. She will begin to realize that her sounds hold meaning and can get a response from Mama.
3. Talk and sing. Paint a picture with baby with your words. As you are playing with baby, tell her about what she is seeing. “Look Genevieve, the cat is coming over. Isn’t she a big kitty? Her brown fur is so soft.” Little ones are already beginning to develop an understanding for language. The more words they hear now the better. Though it is also incredibly important that little ones have lots of time for rest and silence.
Learning
1. Practice tracking toys and people. Lay baby on the ground and gently roll a ball in front of her. Encourage her to follow the ball with her eyes. This can be done with tons of different toys, or even people. A rattle may help to add in a little encouragement if she doesn’t seem interested at first.
2. Use babe’s name. When you are talking to your baby use her name. Sing songs using her name. Her name is one of the very first words she will begin to attach a meaning to.
3. Sing lullabies and nursery rhymes using high voices, low voices, and soft voices.
4. Provide baby with different textures to explore. Sensory boards can be easily made, though are not really necessary. Let baby feel the carpet, the grass, wood floors, and cushions.
What to do: Place a toyor book under a blanket, leaving part of the object showing. Then ask your baby, “Where is it?” and encourage him to look for it. “Babies will usually grab it and dig under the blanket,” says Robert Myers, Ph.D., a child and adolescent psychologist, founder of the Child Development Institute, and assistant clinical professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine. “If yours doesn’t, you could remove and then replace the blanket.”
Variations: After your baby has mastered finding a partly hidden object, move on to hiding it completely under the blanket.
Skills learned: Fine motor skill development, object permanence
2. STACKING
Materials needed: Plastic measuring cups
What to do: Take turns stacking the cups and knocking them down. You can also have a “race,” where you both stack cups at the same time.
Skills learned: Understanding cause and effect, fine motor skills
3. PUZZLES
Materials needed: Wooden puzzles
What to do: Around her first birthday, your baby will be ready for large wooden puzzles, Dr. Myers says. He suggests ones with colorful shapes or pictures. “Show and tell them first how it works—you may have to guide their hands,” he says. “Clap and cheer when they are successful.”
Skills learned: Problem solving, fine motor skills, visual skills
What to do: Regularly read books to your baby, pointing to the pictures as you read and engaging her by changing your voice for different characters. Invite your little one to participate by encouraging her to laugh or act surprised by the story, touch the pictures, and turn the pages.
Skills learned: Language development, listening skills
5. CLAP WITH ME
What to do: Around 6 to 8 months of age, your child will learn to clap, Dr. Leiderman says, so encourage her with this rhyme:
Clap, clap, one, two, three
Clap, clap, clap with me.
Clap, clap, four and five.
Clap, clap, clap, bees in hive.
Clap, clap, six, seven, eight.
Clap, clap, clap, you are great.
Clap, clap, nine and ten.
Clap, clap, let’s do it again.
Skills learned: Imitation, rhyming
6. RHYME TIME
What to do: Sing songs with real or made-up words that rhyme, like “thump, thump, thump, bump, bump, bump, jump, jump, jump.” You might feel a little silly, but all that rhyming is another way to boost your baby’s language development. “Like touch, talking with your baby is like food for their bodies and their minds,” Dr. Leidermanexplains. “A child’s receptive understanding of language starts long before their expressive language, so we want to use as many opportunities as possible to drench them in language.”
Materials needed: Empty 16-ounce bottle, colored rice or pasta
What to do: Fill the bottle with the rice or pasta, and glue the top back on so your baby can safely watch and hear what happens as he shakes, rattles, and rolls the container. “A bottle doesn’t usually make this noise,” says Dr. Leiderman, “so now they are hearing new and novel things, which brings an element of surprise. Babies this age are also learning so much about cause and effect, which is an exciting new skill.”
Skills learned: Fine motor skills, auditory discrimination, cause and effect
8. DISAPPEARING CHEERIO
Materials needed: Cheerios, opaque plastic cups
What to do: Create your own version of the old-fashioned shell game by hiding a Cheerio under a cup and seeing if your baby can find it. This simple activity reinforces object permanence, a major concept.
Variations: Using two different-colored cups, put the Cheerio under one cup and move it around to see if she can remember which one was the hiding place. After she has found the Cheerio under the first cup, show her you are now putting it under the second cup and see if she remembers that the Cheerio has moved.
Materials needed: Colored plastic containers, mini flashlights
What to do: Turn on some mini flashlights, and drop them into empty water bottles, Tupperware, or any colored, lidded containers. Place your baby in tummy time in a dark room and let him explore the colorful lighted containers on the floor in front of him. “The harsh light of the LEDs will be diffused for little peepers, while any loose or removable parts will be safely away from baby’s mouth,” says Rachel Coley, an occupational therapist, author of Begin With a Blanket: Creative Play for Infants, and founder of CanDoKiddo.com. “Closely supervise as your little one grasps and turns, bangs and rolls the containers.”
Variations: Take a flashlight out of a container, place your baby on her back and simply move the light slowly on a dark wall. “Pause on objects and talk to or with your child about what she’s seeing,” Coley adds.
Skills learned: Visual sensory stimulation, eye movement skills, sustained attention, socialization, bonding, body movement
What to do: Squeeze a couple of dark colors of washable finger paint into a zippered baggy and seal tightly. Add duct tape for extra security. Spread the paint around to coat the inside of the bag, then place it on the floor in front of your baby during tummy time. Show him how to make marks on the outside of the bag with his hand or finger. “To preserve your little one’s artwork, simply cut the edges off the bag and then peel off the top of the artwork, and lay flat to dry,” Coley says.
Variations: Have an independent sitter? Try this activity in a high chair.
Skills learned: Sensory development, fine motor skills, understanding cause and effect, early writing skills
11. CONTAINER PLAY
Materials needed: Small toys, container
What to do: Place a few toys in a container with an opening a bit bigger than balls or pegs, plastic links, or other smaller items. Hand the container to your baby, who will probably turn it over and over, causing some toys to tumble out. “Eventually, your baby will realize that something is rattling around inside and that toys seem to be falling out of it, so she will start shaking, banging, and reaching inside the container,” Coley says. Reload the container periodically until your kiddo figures out how to do it on her own.
Variations: Once she’s gotten good at putting items in the container, you can extend the activity by choosing a narrow-mouthed container and longer toys, like rectangular blocks, pegs, and plastic spoons. “Your baby will learn through trial and error that she has to turn the objects to fit them into containers,” she adds.
Skills learned: Object manipulation and orientation skills
OK, so he’s not actually ‘drawing’, but scribbling. It’s fantastic for improving his fine motor skills, and he holds a crayon pretty well now. These easy grip crayons are perfect for toddlers. He delights in choosing different colors and making his marks all over the paper.
2. Bubble-blowing
Indoor or outdoor, and for our indoor play, just watch the floor to make sure it doesn’t get too slippy. This one can keep him engrossed for quite some time! I tend to blow them for him to catch them or we use a bubble machine, but he likes trying to blow them himself, too.
3. Music-making (or noise-making to be more accurate!)
We do actually have a few musical instruments, but anything will do. He loves getting the saucepans out with a wooden spoon, too, and making a right racket with those!
1. Saving for College – He loves to fill the Piggy Bank Sour Cream Tub (just cut a slit in the top) with money. I also give him a couple of extra bowls for him to fill and dump. Oh, and repeat.
2. Bean Sorting – A bowl of beans and a muffin tin. He loves dumping, sorting, and stirring.
3. Drop the Pin into a Milk Jug
Clothes pins see a lot of action around here: Remember my Advent Calendar for Broke PeopleWho Line Dry Their Clothes? For this project, I cut a square out of the side of a half-gallon milk jug. I handed it to Samuel and let him drop clothespins into the top. He absolutely loves this “toy.”
4. Ice Cube Trays, Who Knew?
I give him pom poms, miniature foam blocks, and rocks to sort in his ice cube trays. The possibilities are endless.
Put a few buttons in a ziplock bag, add some hair gel, draw a circle on the back of the bag, and tape it to the window. The purpose of the activity is to move all those buttons inside the circle. It’s great for development of motor skills for those little fingers! I also drew eyes and a nose of a cat, to make it look like he’s eating the buttons. Another variation of this activity is to place buttons of 2 colors in the bag, and draw 2 circles of those colors on the bag, and then the goal of the activity would be to move the buttons to the circle of the same color.
2. Tickle game
This is a very fun game to play with a toddler. Hide a feather underneath one of the wipes pack flip lids attached to a board and encourage your toddler to look for it. Once the feather is found, use it to tickle your toddler with it. I keep all the other windows empty, but as an option, small flat animal toys or magnets can be placed there for discovery. I used hot glue to attach flip lids for durability but they are still sticky if you use them right away after removing them from a wipes pack. This game was inspired by The Tickle Book which has flaps with tickle monster hiding underneath.
3. Paint on ice
Painting can be more fun for kids when they paint on something unusual. We tried painting on ice, and it seemed like a great painting and sensory activity for her, she was very curious about what is happening. We used regular finger paint and brushes for this activity.
This game took me 5 minutes to make. I cut out shapes of fish from cardstock paper, placed adhesive magnetic discs on each one, and made a fishing pole by wrapping a strong magnet in a piece of tulle, and tying it to a pen. We took turns catching and releasing fish, and it was fun!
2. Matching socks
I saw how interested Scarlett was in sorting clean laundry, so I gave her baby socks to practice pairing them. These socks worked great because they have animal faces on them, she really enjoyed matching them, and I had a 5 minute break.
3. Put hair elastics on doll’s legs/hands
This is a great activity to practice fine motor skills. Scarlett has been first trying to take off the elastics from the doll’s legs that I put there, but now she is learning to put them there herself. There is a variation of putting hair elastics on a bottle, but I found this one to be more interesting to her.
I literally do quick searches online all the time for the activities I conduct with Eli. Check out the web for more fun activities for you and your little(s)!
I think sometimes we wait for perfect conditions to enjoy the moment. We have to really embrace the fact that every moment won’t be perfectly curated or put together and that’s okay. Enjoy washing the dishes and singing your little ones favorite song with them at the top of your lungs like no one is watching! After a long day of work and home life, when you take your little one out of the bath and they are all dry it’s okay to blow fart 💨 noises on their tummy and watch them giggle uncontrollably but then request you do it over and over again. Be ‘in the moment’, in the moments you get with them. You won’t get that time back. If you must (as in have to) spend the time with them doing the routine things, make it memorable, make it fun! They are sooo easy to please, they really just want your undivided attention sometimes and that’s perfectly okay too!
2. Make some things non negotiable in your personal routine with your kids:
I have specific things that are non negotiable in my schedule with Eli. Reading before bedtime is one of them. I make it my mission to have non negotiable’s when it comes to our routine/schedule, like bedtime at a specific time, choosing a day of the week that is just designated for family fun, no work or responsibilities are to be done in that day. Create rules for yourself and a list of must haves for your relationship with your littles. Create a routine morning, nighttime, afternoon whatever, and stick to it! Children, although they may resist it at times work best with structure. There may be some things that may get tossed around in your life, but your schedule and routines with your kids shouldn’t be one of them. Make it a habit to keep the structure in their lives. If it gets knocked off for one reason or another, get up and try again. Consistency is key. Bless their lives by being consistent with your schedules.
3. Understand that it isn’t your job as a parent to engage your children during every waking moment you are together. It is your job to ensure that you have surrounded them with things that invoke meaningful play:
You aren’t a bad parent if you aren’t engaging with your children 24/7. Be sure to create an environment for them where they are able to engage in meaningful play. Puzzles, supplies to create or manipulatives that are age appropriate or a little bit advanced for them. It is also perfectly ok for your little one to be bored. This is when they’ll begin to explore, possibly get in a little trouble, but that’s ok too!
4. Grace yourself :
Yes, yes and more yes! I choose to grace myself all the time. We, (Eli and I) are in a new city and we aren’t doing as much as we would be if we were in New York. I am still trying to get my bearings, learning the city and all that there is to do for tots here and that’s ok. Now am I always this way, no, so it’s perfectly okay to still be adjusting. Grace yourself in this parenting life, you’re gonna need it! Make whatever it is that you do with your littles extraordinary and give an extraordinary attitude while doing it!
5. Make the sacrifice:
Truth be told, sometimes we don’t do things with our kids because we are lazy, or because we don’t want to leave the house; but if it’s for work we go, if it’s for something “important” we go. Your kids are the most important things you have to give your time to. Their memories of their time spent with you matter. It’s important that you get up and sacrifice some sleep to spend time with them. We can all be guilty of it at times, but the point is to catch and correct ourselves before it becomes a habit and if it already is one, make the conscious effort to change things into the way they should be.
There is no set way to win the best parents award 🥇 but you’ve already been given a head start at that regarding your own kids because you are the ONLY parents they’ve got! God chose YOU to parent your children. He saw something special in you that quailed you to do that thing, OWN IT, and be the best mom/dad that you can be to your littles!
Hey! So, it is my personal belief that “best practice” and “the standard” is always the way to go! The thing with this is that sometimes best practice or the standard aren’t options that you can choose from. What I mean by this is that based on the situation or based on the circumstances, best practice or the standard may not always be wise or available to operate in.
Disclaimer: In no way am I saying that God gives us the right to sin because this is the furthest thing from what I am saying. The Bible says that God always makes a way out of sin.
1 Corinthians 10:13 NLT
The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.
What I am saying is that there are ways that may not be best practice or the standard regarding leaving somewhere “well” that may have to be exhausted in specific cases. There are people in the Bible that have taken similar action and the Bible is (as believers,) our place of reference for everything so I wanted to touch on this topic a bit by referencing the Word of God.
Let me get right into referencing Biblical stories for you to better understand:
1. David + Saul :
1 Samuel 18:5-9 NLT
Whatever Saul asked David to do, David did it successfully. So Saul made him a commander over the men of war, an appointment that was welcomed by the people and Saul’s officers alike. When the victorious Israelite army was returning home after David had killed the Philistine, women from all the towns of Israel came out to meet King Saul. They sang and danced for joy with tambourines and cymbals. This was their song: “Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands!” This made Saul very angry. “What’s this?” he said. “They credit David with ten thousands and me with only thousands. Next they’ll be making him their king!” So from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David. “
Once David began to grow and have success, support and favor, it began to create a rift between him and Saul. In these moment Saul is sinking deeper into depression because even those that should be on Sauls side start to side with David. It becomes obvious that David HAS TO leave. This was for David’s own safety and protection. He could not remain somewhere that his own well being was being compromised. There are approximately 5 times where Saul either internationally tried to or spoke of trying to take David’s life. At this moment David could no longer stay in the reach of Saul out of fear for his own life so he had to leave. Was David leaving following best practice? No. Did David leave in right standing? No. He had to go for his safety and for the safety of what God had called him to following Sauls reign. This entire story can be found in 1 Samuel 18:6 – 20:42.
2. Joseph + Potiphar’s Wife :
Joseph was trusted by Potiphar (the captain of the guards or Pharaoh), to care for everything He had. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers and was taken to Egypt and bought by Potiphar. Potiphar saw that God was with Joseph and he put him over everything he owned. One day, Joseph being a handsome man, was asked by Potiphar’s wife to have sex with her. Joseph refused, and this (her request) continued to go on and on and on. Some may say that Joseph should of told his master when had happened. Maybe that is considered “standard” to those who say this, but Joseph didn’t. Innocently entering the house one day, while none of the house servants were in the home, Potiphar’s wife grabbed Joseph’s cloak and tried to force him to sleep with her. He then left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house, she accused him of raping her and he was imprisoned. Did he do the right thing? Definitely. Did the results he received show it? Nope. Did he do what would be considered “best practice” or “standard” ? Probably not, but he did what he believed was the right thing to do. Did he come out better in the long run? Absolutely. This story can be found in Genesis 39 NLT. Joseph has a, from prisoner to palace story and his story ends no where close to where it started. God honored Joseph and all He did in the long run.
3. Jesus + It Just Wasn’t His Time :
There are times in the Bible where Jesus fled from a scene or two (or three, lol), exclaiming that it wasn’t his time yet (“my hour has not yet come” or “my time is not yet here”) I want to zone in on one of these times. This was a moment where reports about Jesus and His power was spreading quickly. He went into the Temple in his home town and read from the scrolls, people praised him for his reading but shortly after they were trying to push Him over the edge of a cliff because His words had offended them. Jesus let the people know that no prophet is accepted in his own hometown and they were ready to take His head off. After being backed away (almost over a cliff), Jesus passed right through the crowd and got up out of there! Was it in a respectful way? No. Was he probably discredited and spoken ill of because of it? Sure! (The title of this passage is called “Jesus Rejected In Nazareth”) It wasn’t his time yet and the way He left didn’t matter. The “standard” of the way He should leave His hometown was null and void in a situation like that. This story can be found in Luke 4:14-30 NLT. Jesus ends up fulfilling His God given purpose and fulfilling all of the law through His life and ministry. He dies the death of a criminal and is now our risen King, who promises to return reigning in all His glory!
God is soooo good! Crazy faithful as I like to say!!
Here are some circumstances that I believe are completely ok when you don’t leave according to the standard or using best practice:
1. When it is either you or them. If a situation causes you to sacrifice your well being or someone else to sacrifice in one area or another, you may have to let go and allow them to be the one to sacrifice. Now what I mean by this is that you cannot hurt yourself in a way where you won’t be able to recover in order to help or be in good standing with someone else. You can’t. God cares about you just as much as He does them, YOU (as in your person) are not up for negotiations when it comes to sacrificing something for another’s well being. There has and always will be one Jesus, the blood 🩸 of lambs couldn’t do it and most definitely your blood won’t be able to do it for that individual either. You have to let go, that sacrifice isn’t worth it, your purpose is though.
I’m going to use a movie that I saw as a illustration. A husband and wife got married and had a son. The family was a middle class family and the husband acquired a drug habit. His wife stood by his side and presented the option of unconventional rehabilitation for him to kick the habit. He started the rehab but couldn’t complete it. He then came back to the house and began stealing things from the home in order for him to get the drugs. The wife had finally had enough and the statement she made was “if I ask you to leave it’s my fault, but if I ask you to stay and you ruin our life it’s also my fault”. So the husband had to leave. The wife made the right choice in this situation because the husband wasn’t going to contribute to the well being of the home and family, his habit and unwillingness to get help was going to contribute to the demise of their home and family and that wasn’t a risk that this wife should have been comfortable with settling with. If anything would happen to the son because of this mans habit it would of now been her fault not the husbands, because she (the wife) allowed it.
2. When God says go. Sometimes God will allow you to leave somewhere well and sometimes He won’t. Sometimes things will be messy as you exit, your most important job is to be obedient and to obey God, He knows all things, even why you have to leave messy. He understands the situation more than you, ALL of the time! Ask Him to forgive you for the way you are leaving and get up out of there, ASAP, if that is the way He is leading!
3. When you know the other party is out to harm you or harm your character. It’s not an “and, if or a but”. You gotta go! I just believe that God is so good at giving you signals and hints, it is up to us to take it. The scripture that comes to mind is the one where it says to me as harmless as a dove and as wise as a serpent.
Matthew 10:16 NLT
“Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves.
If you are getting clear signals that someone is out to harm you in one way or another they probably are. Don’t wait until it blows up for you to leave or exit the equation.
4. When it’s time for you to go. Some say that timing is everything which is the words that I’ll use to describe this one. Sometimes people stay places long after the time for them to leave is up and it may be due to fear.I can say that I have done this before. The thing with staying somewhere when the time to leave that place is finally up is that: Have you noticed that whenever you do this things start to go haywire for you in that place? I honestly believe that this is because God no longer wants you there and you refuse to leave. God has assigned you to be places for specific amounts of times and it’s so important that you remain in tune with Him so that you know when your time somewhere is up. I want to note that in this case you may actually be able to leave well, if you are paying attention to the times.
TrulyArielleA 