Jesus

DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE SPIDERS

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LILAH SLEEPING

At that time the disciples came up and asked Jesus,
Who then is [really] the greatest
in the kingdom of heaven?
And He called a little child to Himself
and put him in the midst of them,
And said, Truly I say to you, unless you repent
(change, turn about) and become like little children [trusting, lowly, loving, forgiving],
you can never enter the kingdom of heaven [at all].
Whoever will humble himself therefore
and become like this little child
[trusting, lowly, loving, forgiving]
is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 18:1-4 AMP

Have you ever heard of the show back in the days of black and white TV called “Kids Say the Darndest Things”? It was hosted by Art Linkletter and was very popular for a long time. It was based on the premise that you never know what kids will say when asked certain questions. Most young children just “tell it as they see it” with no reservations or filters. It can be quite humorous at times (or embarrassing), which accounts for the popularity of the show.

While adults often get caught up in the politics of things, children just look at the facts and accept them in blind trust. Why else would they accept it when they ask a parent why they can’t do a certain thing and the parent says, “Because I said so!”. End of conversation.

Jesus knew the trusting, loving, humility of little children when He told the disciples that the only way to attain greatness in the kingdom of God is to attain the purity of spirit that children display…the honesty, the blind trust in the things of God. We, as adults, tend to complicate things too much. Have I prayed enough? Do I have unconfessed sin? Have I been good enough? If all those things are necessary for us to come before God, why do we need Jesus blood? Those things are based on pride…what do “I” need to do? Jesus has done it all. We need to come before Him in faith in what He has already done!

Having four granddaughters, I have the perfect example. How it blessed my heart when my daughter gave me the following testimony of God’s goodness! My almost three year old granddaughter, Lilah, had not been sleeping well for months. She would wake up several times each night crying and screaming that there were spiders in her bed. We had no idea where the fear started, but we knew who started it…the enemy of our peace, Satan himself! My daughter prayed with her and I prayed for her every night before going to bed.

A few days ago, at this writing, Lilah stood beside her bed and told her mom, “God helped me with the spiders. Jesus tell me not to be scared of spiders an’ then He give me a hug. Then I hugged Jesus an’ He give me a kiss an’ I said, ‘Ewwww, dat was gross…like dat.’”

She has had no problem sleeping since then. Our God is so good and He does answer prayers! He knew what it would take to comfort my granddaughter and He revealed Himself to her in a very special way. Lilah related the experience in a very matter-of-fact manner. She knew what Jesus did and it was no big deal. It was just Jesus being Jesus.  Why don’t you let Him be Jesus in your life today!

But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me.
Don’t stop them!
For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those
who are like these children.”
Matthew 19:14 NLT

THE TRIUMPH OF THE CROSS

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JESUS EMPTY TOMB
Click below to hear the song…
THE TRIUMPH OF THE CROSS
Words & Music by Nancy Gilbert Crowson

[God] disarmed the principalities and powers
 that were ranged against us
and made a bold display and public example of them,
in triumphing over them in Him [Jesus] and in it [the cross].
Colossians 2:15 AMP

For us as Christians, Easter should be the most exciting and popular holiday of the year… even beating out Christmas! You may say, “But without Jesus birth He couldn’t have died and been resurrected.” True…but without His death on the cross and resurrection from the dead, we would have no sacrifice for our sins, no fellowship with God the Father and no hope of heaven! As a matter of fact, Jesus sacrifice would have been in vain if the resurrection hadn’t taken place.

Let’s go back in time for a moment. Can you imagine how the disciples must have felt when the man they had accepted as Messiah was crucified on a wooden cross like a common criminal? Indeed, He was crucified between two criminals. Jesus had tried to prepare them for this moment, but they hadn’t understood. They just couldn’t fathom such a thing! He was the Son of God, the Messiah, the Prince of Peace, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Savior and Deliverer and NOW He was hanging lifeless on a cross. What would happen to them now…to His followers everywhere? They huddled in an upper room in hopelessness and despair. You could have heard a pin drop as they were rendered speechless by the atrocity that had just taken place. Their Deliverer had been himself delivered into the hands of the enemy. Would they be next? The fear and trepidation in the room was almost tangible. Every movement on the street below was suspect! They stayed confined there the entire weekend…watching…waiting… contemplating…grieving.

He had been laid in the empty tomb of one of His benevolent followers. The women in the group went down early Monday morning to anoint the body with spices they had prepared prior to the commencement of Sabbath. But as they arrived, they were startled to see that the huge stone covering the entrance of the tomb had been moved to the side. They had wondered how they would manage to move it. But stranger still was the fact that a man was sitting on the stone…not just any man, but an angel! He told them that Jesus had risen from the dead just as He had said and commissioned them to go and tell the other disciples.

Filled with joyful excitement and fear they hurried quickly on their way. But as they were going, Jesus met them and greeted them with the firm assurance that only He can give…“Don’t be afraid. Go and tell my disciples to go to Galilee and they will see me there.”

Indeed they did see Him there alive and well! Hope was restored, joy was reinstated, victory was secured, not just for the moment, but for eternity! Satan thought he had done Him in. The disciples thought He was gone forever. But…the mouth of an empty tomb continues to shout the TRIUMPH OF THE CROSS! HE IS RISEN INDEED!!!

ARE YOU LISTENING?

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JOSEPH AND MARY 

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home
as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins.”

 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:
“The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel” —which means, “God with us.”

 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.
Matthew 1:18-24

Think about this scenario: You are a man who is engaged to be married. You are happily awaiting the wedding night when your mutual love will be consummated. You will no longer be two separate entities, but as the Bible says, you will become “one flesh” united with God’s blessing. But all of a sudden, the joyful anticipation is shattered by news unfathomable…the one in whom you have put your trust has seemingly been unfaithful. You know it’s not your child, for you have not yet known her intimately. What are you going to do? You still love her and don’t want to cause her public shame. “Okay, think this over calmly”, you say to yourself. “You can just break off the engagement privately without anyone’s name being dragged through the mud.” You go to bed that night still pondering the situation. Your fretful sleep is further interrupted by…“What is this?…an angel!” He is telling you not to be afraid to take your sweetheart as your wife because the child she is carrying is non-other than the long awaited Messiah and she has conceived by the Holy Spirit, not a mortal man. Your bride-to-be is to be the mother of our Lord! Do you dare believe it? You know what the angel said and you know the message was from God. Then excitement begins to arise as you realize that you also have been chosen…chosen to care for the mother of the very Son of God!

This is the story of Joseph and his part in the birth of Jesus. The Bible says he did exactly as the angel commanded him. He took Mary as his wife, but did not have a marital relationship with her until after Jesus was born. What dedication this man had to the things of God! Think about it. Would you have obeyed the voice of the angel in blind faith? Or would you have attributed the whole dream to a bad case of indigestion? We can still hear the voice of the Lord today if we are listening. He probably won’t send an angel, but He still speaks in that still, small voice deep inside. Will you be like Joseph and believe and obey without question? It’s something to think about.