Are You Willing to Become an Ass for the Lord? He Has Need of Kingdom Carriers!

When was the last time you wept? Like not a silent cry, but an all-out deep groaning of grief that cannot be contained? That’s what I asked myself as I read Luke 19 today.

Luke writes of Jesus’s triumphal entry on “Palm Sunday” into Jerusalem, the City of Peace. Before he reaches the gates, Jesus sees Jerusalem ahead & begins to weep. His is not a silent cry, but one of great grief…so great that the word used for “weep” means expressing uncontrollable, audible grief.

What would cause such a strong reaction? Why did the mere sight of the City of David move our Savior to tears?

The Son of David weeps because the city of peace does not recognize the very personhood of Peace, the descendant of David who came to seek & save the lost.

He cries, “Oh, how I wish today that your people would understand the way to peace.”

He uses two of His own names in His cry…

• The Way

• Peace

The Way to eternal life & the very Source of Peace is among them, but they do not recognize Him.

All of this emotion unfolded as Jesus rides an unsuspecting donkey, fulfilling the prophecy of the coming Messiah.

The donkey isn’t His. Jesus sends his disciples to find a colt, untie it & bring it to Him to ride upon. He tells His men, “if anyone asks why you are taking it, just say, “The Lord has need of him.” (KJV)

Y’all, the Lord has need of US! Are we willing to let ourselves be untied from our will & our ways so that we might carry the Good News of our Messiah?

He weeps for our friends & family who do not know The Way to eternal Peace! Will we willingly become carriers of the Kingdom of God? The eternal peace of anyone we encounter depends on it!

Will we carry His Presence above OUR will, on top of our emotions, as supersedent over our thoughts? 

When we truly understand the Divine burden we bear, the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, all other work pales in comparison. All other secondary purposes are kept in their proper place.

The Lord has need of you!

The Lord has need of me!

Will we carry The One Who weeps with uncontainable, audible grief for the lost souls who know not Peace?

There’s no greater weight than I’d like to bear…how about you?

#OneYearBible

April 19th One Year Bible Readings

JOSHUA 19:1-20:9

LUKE 19:28-48

PSALM 88:1-18

PROVERBS 13:12-14

If you evaluated the return on investment of your time & talent, what treasure would you find?

I had a little “come apart” with my husband last night. Like many, there’s much unfolding at lightening speed. Some of it is choice & some is a matter of circumstance. The bottom line to the wrestle is that I don’t want to waste time, talents & treasures on things that carry no purpose other than to keep the hamster wheel turning.

We all have these in finite supply:

Time-with an unknown expiration date

Talents-that can be invested for value 

Treasures-the resulting investment of time & talents

If you evaluated the return on the investment of your time & talent, what sort of treasure would you find?

This is what Jesus posed as He made way to Jerusalem to pay a debt He didn’t owe.

Some thought that the kingdom of God would begin immediately, so He tells a story of a crowned king who leaves for a short while. Before he does, however, he gives a sum of talents to his servants to invest while he’s gone.

When he is gone, some people send an envoy o tell him they reject his kingship.

Upon return 3 things happen:

1) talent holders are called to account

2) wise investors are rewarded & the complacent, who literally buried their talent to “keep it safe”, loose even what they have

3) the townspeople who reject him are executed😳

There was an Op-ed recently that suggested we give up on God because He’s always been about death…and that’s the point!

He is perfect, so holy that He cannot even glance upon sin AND loves us enough to give us a choice to follow Him to life or our sin to death. Death eternal is a choice & results from rejecting the King of kings who EMBRACED death on the cross so we could escape death eternal!

And yet, death is still required…a death of our will SO THAT His might reign supreme! When we let our will die, we rise again in resurrection power while still on this earth! Our time and talents suddenly become minutes multiplied & superpower skills!

If you took stock today, what talents do you have to invest in the unknown time left? What sort of Kingdom return have you gained or have you played it safe & buried it in fear-induced complacency?

Take action & remember, “…to those who use well what they’ve been given, even more will be given…”

#OneYearBible

April 18th One Year Bible Readings

JOSHUA 16:1-18:28

LUKE 19:1-27

PSALM 87:1-7

PROVERBS 13:11

Feeling Dark & Lacking Joy? Remember: A Lot Can Happen in Three Days!

Proverbs 23:9 tells us that the life of the godly IS (present tense, continually) full of light & joy.

Is that really true, I wondered, because there are some days that the forecast feels dark & so do I. There are some circumstances where joy feels lost…

But here’s the thing: we are not the source of light & the joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit! We need not, no we CANNOT, decide to BE light or decide to BE joyful because we aren’t the source of either.

What we CAN do is remember this: the SONrise service that many will attend on Easter Sunday reminds us that a lot can happen in three days! I’m fact, I don’t even like to call it “Easter Sunday” but rather “Resurrection Day” because it is the day that Jesus conquered death & darkness!

The dark feelings of hopelessness CANNOT creep into the crevices of our hearts & minds when we choose to recall the conquering life of Christ!

Jesus tells his disciples again in Luke 18 that the prophecies about Som of Man will soon come true!  He will be:

✝️ Beaten

✝️ Shamed

✝️ Flogged

✝️ Killed

AND on the third day, He will rise again!

Death HAD to come so that eternal life for all might arise!

Y’all, we are ALL called to rise! Regardless of what we face, let the hard things do their work to kill all complacency, to eradicate self sufficiency & awaken in us our great need of the All Sufficient One!

Yes! We CAN indeed be full of Christ’s light AND overflowing with Holy Spirit joy when we remember that death, the greatest thing to fear, holds no threat when we know Jesus as our Savior! In fact, we can embrace our day of earthly expiration because we know that it ushers us into Kingdom eternal!

Father, we place all fears at Your feet, knowing we can entrust them to You! A lot can & DID happen in three days!

Put to death anything in us that holds us like roots & vines to our will & ways. We want to rise like Jesus, above anything we face, so that Your Light & the Holy Spirit’s joy might mark our countenance for Kingdom purposes.

Lord, come & heal our land through one surrendered heart at a time. Yes, we surrender our will even unto death for Yours to rise & prevail! We seek Your face this SONrise day! Come have Your Way!

#OneYearBible

April 17th One Year Bible Readings

JOSHUA 15:1-63

LUKE 18:18-43

PSALM 86:1-17

PROVERBS 13:9-10