Category: Connection (Page 7 of 9)

Through Love.

October 16, 2021 / ministermaryellen@gmail.com

“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander” – 1 Peter 3:15-16.

Two weeks ago, I gathered with friends from church to catch up on what God is doing in each of our lives, to share the struggles we’re trusting God to strengthen us in and lead us through and, to reflect on that Sunday’s sermon. Before we left to drive home, my friend Kendra asked everyone in attendance if they had any prayer requests? I shared that I would like prayer for more opportunities at work to share the gospel. It didn’t take long for God to respond! A few days after my prayer request, while at work, one of my colleagues shared some Halloween ideas to do as a team. I don’t specifically remember the haunting-themed ideas she proposed; however, my response was, “I don’t enjoy haunting things, and I also don’t celebrate Halloween.” One of my colleagues asked, “Is it because of your religion?” I replied, “Yes.” I explained that Halloween is steeped in rituals and other things that cater to the realm of darkness—trick or treating, pumpkin carvings, costumes, etc. And while I understand its origins and how traditions change over the years, the essence of the holiday doesn’t point anyone towards the light of God’s nature.

I shared with my colleagues that God is love, He is light, He is peace, and He is life.

The bible tells us that God is love, “Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love” –1 John 4:8. God is light, “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” –1 John 1: 4-5. God is peace, “Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant…” –Hebrews 13:20. God is life, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” –John 8:12.

I wasn’t exactly sure how my response was received, with shock, uncomfortableness, confusion, or understanding? But what I do know is that it was received. And I know this, too: that I wasn’t expecting my prayer request to share the gospel at work to be answered in quite the way it was. Most definitely not in the middle of a Halloween-themed conversation!

As I went back to my seat, my mind was flooded with questions: “Did that really just happen?” “And what will the next opportunity the Lord provides look like?’ “Did I come across as boring or defensive?” And amid my overthinking, the Lord quieted my mind and said, “You spoke about the Light.” And through His reply, I learned that a soft, gentle response goes a long way. And, that If an opportunity to share your faith opens up, like the one I had just experienced, discussing your position with a heart bent towards pointing others towards the light, rather than attacking the dark, is amazingly effective. The thing about light is this: the smallest of one drives the darkness away.

From my previous writings, you may have noticed that God is truly revealing and helping me see the depths and powerfulness of His love. How His love is transformative, giving us a new heart. His love is guiding us like a compass. It directs us to live set apart in a world entangled in sin. And His love empowers believers to demonstrate it to those we may feel are undeserving of love. Ultimately, the breath of His love is indefinable. Mere human feelings cannot perfectly articulate it; His love is a verb that far exceeds our feelings. And, while my colleagues were receptive and actively listening to my defense for choosing not to participate in their Halloween activities. It was only afterward, as I reflected on that moment, hindsight allowed me to see just how unreceptive they may have been, had I shared my beliefs with a righteous spirit or in an angry tone of voice.

The bible says, “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander’ –1 Peter 3:15-16. As I read this verse, the words that jumped out at me were gentleness and respect. Why? While the authoritative Words in the bible are all-powerful, our delivery of the gospel message can impact how they’re received. When fully understood and accepted, the gospel message is the most incredible and powerful Truth known to man. Yet our tone, our deliverance, can influence its impact on whether someone receives it—or not. God cares about our deliverance, how we share His Word; hence, He instructs us to defend our faith with gentleness and respect.

And while my colleagues may not entirely agree with me on my Christian worldview and life decisions, as an ambassador of Christ in my workplace, I’m nonetheless intentional about treating them with the same kindness and gentleness the Lord extends to me daily. And I thank God in advance for every opportunity I will be given to speak about my faith, about the gospel, in my workplace, and for the deeper connections I will make with others. God revealed to me, so clearly, that we don’t deny the gospel message of Jesus Christ by dining or conversing with sinners; instead, we do it by avoiding sinners out of fear or dislike.

So I hope you’ll take every opportunity God gives you to share the gospel wherever you go, with whomever God places in front of you. And if you don’t know this God I spoke to my colleagues about; I hope after reading this you’ll ask God to show Himself as real in your life as He is in mine. I’m praying for you!

No More Excuses.

October 2, 2021 / ministermaryellen@gmail.com

I have found it challenging to rest over the last couple of months if I’m honest. One only needs to open their eyes and look around to see that the world is not okay right now. I mean, maybe it never was, but as days go by, I see the reality of it more and more clearly. While I have personal issues that I am working through, it seems as though the aches and pains of this world overshadow those trivial things that I consider problems. Yet, in all the chaos, I must remind myself to turn my eyes towards Heaven, asking God for His perspective. His vantage point. As I consider all the uncertainty in the world, I am reminded of Romans 8:22. It reads, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” The Apostle Paul, the writer of Romans, was referring to this present hour when he wrote this book.

This tells me that the earth has been groaning for a long time, in fact, for thousands and thousands of years. Long before I became aware of the rapidly decaying state of our world, the earth has been groaning in preparation for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. Yet this passage is oozing with hope when we read it through today’s lens.

God is not surprised by anything. He has been managing crises since the beginning of time. Since the dawn of creation, He has been working things out for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28). We have hope in Jesus that, although the earth is groaning, He is still preparing a place for us in our eternal home, in Heaven. While this hope exists for the believer, my heart aches thinking of the people in the world who choose to reject Christ. I’m sure that’s why my heart has been heavy as I’ve been preparing to share a word with you this week; I have not been able to shake the finality of Romans 1:26 from my mind. “God gave them over to shameful lusts…”

As I tried to digest just this sliver of Romans 1, I asked God what He’d have me to say concerning it. And, as uncomfortable as it may be, I believe the answer is this: It is a warning for mankind.

I feel such a sense of urgency as I sit to write about this. Here is the full context of the passage above: “The wrath of God is being revealed from Heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness. For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile, and their foolish hearts were darkened [they] exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over to the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator who is forever praised. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another.”

This Book of the Bible was written thousands of years ago, which tells me that the world wasn’t a wonderful place back then either.

When God throws His hands up and says, “have it your way. I’ll give you over to your sinful desires”, that’s never a good thing. The standards set forth in God’s law, the 10 Commandments, exist for a reason. They’re given to us as a safeguard- much like a guard rail on the side of a road. I also see them this way: dietary recommendations that exist to keep us healthy. If we load ourselves with saturated fats, poorly digestible carbohydrates, sugar, processed foods, and the like, we may feel great while we’re indulging, and we certainly satisfy our cravings. However, as a result of our indulgences now, years down the road, we will experience diseases that poorly impact the quality of our lives. Diseases that may have been prevented had we kept to the dietary standards recommended by doctors.

In like fashion, Biblical standards act like spiritual guardrails or like diets for our souls. The Bible gives us crystal clear directions from our Maker on what is required to make us function optimally. Sin is cancer to our souls. It eats away at our very being. And though often unrecognizable at first, in time, it will ultimately kill us. I’m sure when the above passage in Romans was written, it was intended to address what God calls “wickedness.” And, since God doesn’t change, the same wickedness that existed in that day is still considered wickedness in our day.

As I read these verses, I saw patterns emerge throughout history—patterns of evil days, and then times of revival. And where there was a revival, prosperity followed quickly behind. Look at the first Great Awakening; shortly after the Great Awakening of the 1700s came the Industrial Revolution. The Second Great Awakening was in the 1830s, then, in the 1850s, we saw the gold rush followed by a great economy in the US. I believe that where the Spirit of God is alive and well, people prosper. Not just in riches but also spirit.

We look around our world right now, and we see economies are failing. People are desperate for hope. Depression and anxiety are rampant as fear grips the heart of man, a byproduct of Covid-19. This world needs Jesus! We need to repent and turn from godlessness. The answer to our aching world is Jesus. We need revival; where the souls of man wake up from mediocrity’s stupor and turn towards the fear of God once again. Most people worldwide are so removed from the God of the Bible, Elohim, that they are merely existing. My friends, we were not created to merely exist. We were created to live in the family of God: in a state of belonging, fulfillment, and purpose.

So I urge you, now, to turn from godlessness and run to the Father. These verses are not past tense; instead, they accurately describe God’s heart towards wickedness. Yes, God is good, and yes, He is kind and merciful and loving and a gracious provider for His children. The Bible tells us that He does love the world! You’ve heard this verse I’m sure, it’s John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

And, “That while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” — Romans 5:8. God still sees the world He created, and He loves every person in it. He will forgive the sins of anyone who sincerely repents, but, His greatest blessings are reserved for those who obey Him.

Here’s the hope we have in Jesus: God will not expose us without providing a remedy.

Living in sin does not have to be your story. If you feel you can identify with the wickedness mentioned in the verses above, I beg you not to fall into the trap of “oh well! I guess I’m just going to hell then” and wrongly accept that lie. You do not have to go to hell! I repeat, you DO NOT have to go to hell. Repent of your sin, ask Jesus into your heart, and ask the Holy Spirit to lead you in the way of His salvation. I promise there is more joy and peace in living for Jesus than in the life you’re currently living. In Romans 2:7, the Bible says, “To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, He will give eternal life.” And Ezekiel 18:21 reads, “But if the wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed and observes all My statutes and practices justice and righteousness, he shall surely live; he shall not die.”

This verse isn’t just talking about our last breath on earth. “He shall not die” refers to eternity. You shall not spend eternity in hell; if you repent and accept Jesus as Lord of your life, you shall spend eternity alive and well with the Father. The hour is now, no more excuses. I pray that this heavy word spoke to you, pushed you even, towards accepting Jesus and living for Him. You’ll have an eternity to not regret that it did.

Be Still.

September 11, 2021 / ministermaryellen@gmail.com

Life is filled with cycles of mountain top highs and valley lows. It’s just a fact of life that we can’t escape. We do great, and then a problem comes, and we’re out for the count in a valley again. Then we overcome the problem and climb our way back to the beautiful views of the mountaintop where life is good. The cycle repeats itself repeatedly; it’s just a matter of time. I have learned not to get too comfortable on the mountaintop. I get premonitions, of sorts, when I’m about to approach a valley. It’s a strange feeling. It’s just a “knowing” that something’s coming. I couldn’t tell you what, but it’s that feeling of impending doom.

I recently got this premonition, and within weeks I found myself in the valley, and as I’m sitting here, I’m asking the Lord what I could share with you at a time like this. His gentle whisper just said, “you need only be still.” These beautiful words directly from Exodus 14:14 were brought to my memory, and I knew there must be more people who need to “be still.” I have this image in my mind of sitting in a boat, holding on for dear life as a storm rage around me. I sit, eyes fixed on Jesus, knowing that He is my only hope. As I have this mental image, I remember a similar story in the Bible where Jesus was actually in a storm that could have claimed the disciples’ lives in the boat.

“… He said to his disciples, ‘Let us go over to the other side.’ Leaving the crowd behind, they took Him along, just as He was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke Him and said to Him, ‘Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?’ He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the waves, ‘Quiet! Be still!’ Then the wind died down, and it was completely calm. He said to His disciples, ‘Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?’ They were terrified and asked each other, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey Him!'” — Mark 4:35-41

You must understand something here: Jesus had just finished teaching the crowd about the Kingdom of Heaven. He was telling parables of growing in the word of God, He spoke of shining our light of salvation to expose what’s hidden in darkness, and, encouraging them, He spoke of the Kingdom of God in us that grows as we exercise our mustard seed faith.

He spoke in parables that not everyone understood, but His disciples had VIP access to His teachings to understand them fully. They had explanations that the crowd didn’t get. “When he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.” — Mark 4:34. This same Jesus who taught that faith the size of a mustard seed could move mountains (Matthew 17:20) is the one who calmed the storm. I imagine that the disciples would proudly walk by Jesus as He taught these jaw-dropping sermons and did miraculous signs and wonders, but when it came down to it, the disciples didn’t have the words that Jesus spoke in their hearts. They knew in their heads that they needed to have faith, but the heart connection could only come through the trial.

I don’t know about you, but it’s easy to find opinions on everything nowadays for me. We live in a world where you can get someone’s thoughts quickly. The voices of others begin to consume our thoughts, becoming our point of reference. We know what the Bible says, but we tend to rely on what people say instead. It’s easy to say things like, “God is enough for me.” We know that; we believe it. But what happens when things start to get stripped away from us? Does panic set in? Do we resort to fear? Anxiety? Worry? Or do we remember His words and stand firm on His promises?

“God is my refuge and strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble.” —Psalm 46:1.

“The Lord is my shield; my rock; my deliverer; my defender” —Psalm 18.

“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He refreshes my soul.” — Psalm 23.

What do you resort to when the storm comes?

In this story, right before Jesus and His disciples were caught in this storm, Jesus told them to go to the other side of the lake where they were at. Without hesitation, the disciples brought the boat through the lake, knowing their destination. They didn’t stop to prepare for the possibility of inclement weather. They just went. When there is no threat, it’s easy to choose obedience to Jesus. Had they known the storm was awaiting them in the middle of their journey, maybe they wouldn’t have set off. You see, Jesus wasn’t surprised by the storm. He rested through it. He knew the authority that the Father had given Him to command the elements, so He wasn’t worried. The disciples, on the other hand, went from bringing Jesus over without hesitation to complete despair. They literally thought they were about to die. They KNEW that faith could move mountains and that faith could heal the sick, but when the moment came to rest in their revelation of Jesus, they resorted to panic. I honestly don’t blame them because that seems like a very human thing to do. But what if Jesus was testing them or teaching them a lesson, knowing what lay ahead?

Suddenly, we see Jesus almost aggravated that they’re afraid. He says, “why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” —v. 40. I believe Jesus is making a point here. While we can often feel the emotion of fear, we are not to be fearful, allowing the fear to overtake us. Fear and faith cannot coexist. You either have one or the other. The storm doesn’t worry you if you have faith because you know that God will deliver you. If you are afraid, then the storm will overwhelm you because you believe that the power in the waves is stronger than Jesus. Jesus’ authority in commanding the storm to cease amazed them, causing them to wonder who He is. Again, they KNEW in their minds WHO Jesus was. But the knowledge had not yet made its way to their hearts.

As I look at the world around us, I feel like the disciples in the boat. The world seems to be in chaos, but I sense that Jesus is in the boat. He didn’t tell us to go without Him; instead, as with the disciples, He is right here with us. We have an opportunity to respond to trouble with faith, not fear, as the disciples did. While it is easy to believe the words of panic from the world, it is crucial to put our faith in and believe the words of stability found in God’s Word instead. In this season of uncertainty, I am reminded of Exodus 14:14, which reads, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still.”

Be still. The exact words that Jesus violently commanded the waves are the words that God used to comfort the Israelites in Exodus as they were running from their oppressors. In a time where the only logical thing to do is to run or to fight, God tells them to be still. I sense that same calling in these times as we see so much quandary around us. If I could encourage you today in whatever you’re going through, it’s this: have faith and be still. Replace the echoing voices in your mind of worry that come from the world with promises from the word of God. Read your Bible and hide its precious Words in your heart. It is there where the renewing of the mind takes place. There is where your mustard seed faith is strengthened, and standing on His words becomes second nature. If you don’t know Jesus as the one who calms your storms, I invite you to ask Him in today. Ask Jesus to forgive your sins, for He is faithful and to do so. He will command the unsteadiness in your heart to be still and will bring into alignment every maligned thing.

Be encouraged. God bless you!

That’s It. One More Step Now.

July 31, 2021 / ministermaryellen@gmail.com

“Let us seize and hold tightly the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is reliable and trustworthy and faithful [to His word]” –Hebrews 10:23.

A brief recap: Back in January of this year, our church entered a 21-day corporate fast. Our pastors chose several leaders to oversee online mid-week prayer groups to encourage those who would join us in this fast. I had the great privilege of being selected as one of those leaders. I share this tidbit of history only to offer you a glimpse into some understanding of the heart and genesis of this teaching. And because last night was our final night of gathering as said prayer group.

In this season, at least, it was our final night to link arms, storming the gates of heaven, lifting up the needs and requests of the Body, covering our pastors and leaders, our teams, families, and encouraging each other to keep on going. To keep pressing into all that God has for us, come what may. Regardless of the times, the persecution, the rejection, the naysayers, or ridicule that comes our way, resulting from our faith in Jesus. To say that our hearts have been knit together in Christ as a result of these many months of praying and pressing in would be an understatement.

This teaching is the full version of the bite-sized bit of reminding and encouragement the Lord had me share with my church family on our last bitter-sweet night together. So, now that you’re all caught up, we can jump right in!

I pray this teaching blesses and encourages you.

What I was given to share with the group came out of John 17. As I said, Jesus’ “Farewell Prayer.” His High Priestly Prayer: what He prayed for the friends who had walked alongside Him during His earthy ministry—and, what He prayed for us, His Church. Those of us He has called to leave our proverbial nets behind us, pick up our cross and follow Him—as decidedly as Peter, Andrew, James, and John once did.

But before I get into the thick of this message, you may be asking why I used Hebrews as the Scripture verse if this teaching was taken from John 17? My answer? This verse in Hebrews is a confirmation. A witness to what Jesus prayed in John 17. It reminds us, fortifies within us, points us towards the surety and hope found within Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer. In essence, it’s another layer of Truth and hope.

Jesus’ prayer exposes some of what is hidden within His heart sometime before He broke bread with His friends, one last time; before He would take Peter, James and John, the sons of thunder, with Him to pray in Gethsemane’s Garden, one final time. Before, Jesus was beaten beyond recognition and unjustly condemned to die a criminal’s death having been nailed to a tree.

With its rich tones of unplumbed and eternal reverence, deep, abiding love, and a submissive foreknowledge, Jesus lifts His prayer, this confirmation, this eternal Truth, His request up before our Father. An aside: I wonder if Jesus had prayed this prayer, or something like it, on one of the many occasions when He would go off to some quiet place to pray and spend time with the Father? But that rabbit hole is for another day.

The heartbeat of this High Priestly prayer is Jesus’ Pure, sacrificial Love. Jesus is God’s guarantee to us that what binds us to Him can never be broken. “…Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals” –Revelation 5:2-5.

This prayer is saturated in encouragement, full of promise and hope. And who doesn’t need the hope only Jesus offers to just pour over them, their family and ministry, their every dry and trembling place right now!

This prayer drips earnestly off Jesus’ tongue, drops lovingly, intentionally, into our parched places—breaking open the dry and barren places in our hearts. New hope then, a renewed exuberance is restored, made fresh. Bursting forth from us as sure and readily as closed-up bud’s spring open after the rains.

In His Sovereignty, Christ knows not only what we need but precisely when and where we need it.

So, as you read this, be re-minded that this same High Priest is interceding for you still—and always. And, be re-minded too, of the Life-giving, Resurrecting, Transforming Power of the Holy One who has taken up residence within your fragile, human frame—if, you have made Jesus the Lord of your life.

Hear and be encouraged then by what “Thus says the Lord” concerning you.

In John 17:6, we hear Jesus re-minding us that we have always been His. In Him, even as He is in the Father. “I have revealed you to the ones you gave me from this world. They were always yours. You gave them to me, and they have kept your word.”

You were in Jesus as He stood over the dark void speaking suns and moons, plants, and planets into existence. As He separated one thing from another, you and I were in Him. A mystery far too great for this writer’s finite mind to take in. Yet how grateful I am to serve a God I cannot fully take in! We hear Paul echoing this Truth back to us in Ephesians 1:4-5. Listen: “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.”

And in verse 12, Jesus re-minds us that we are protected and guarded in Him—by Him. Nothing can come to us, no accident or harm, no sickness, or loss, no “painful” thing, can touch our lives without Jesus’ permission. “You speak as a foolish woman speaks,” he told her. “Should we accept only good from God and not adversity?” Throughout all this Job did not sin in what he said” –Job 2:10.

This is a hard Truth. But it is Truth, nevertheless. “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.” The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger” –Job 1:9-12.

Because you belong to the Living God, you will suffer in this world. Jesus Himself assured us of this. But He also re-mind us to have courage, stand firm, rejoice, be strong, and courageous when all manner of evil comes against us because you are His; He has overcome this world. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” –John 16:33.

We also hear Jesus re-mind us that we have been chosen and created to live holy lives. “Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth” –John 17:17-18. Once again, Paul echoes this same Truth in 2 Corinthians 7:1. “Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”

To say the world we live in is divided would be a gross understatement. Yet in verse 21, we hear Jesus re-mind His children to live in unity—in oneness. We are God’s living Epistles. What kind of a message would we share with a lost and dying world if we act as disjointed and divided as it does? Hear Jesus’ heart for us: “I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.” And I’ll turn to Paul yet again to help solidify this Truth in our hearts, “Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification” –Romans 14:19.

In 1 Corinthians 13:12, Paul tells us that now we see in part, but soon and very soon, we’ll see fully and clearly. “Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” We have Jesus’ assurance that those who are His will one day be with Him eternally. Jesus wants us for Himself. We are His Bride. He bought and paid for us with His Spotless Blood. “Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!” –verse 24.

This is your destiny, Beloved of God. To be where Jesus is, with Him, singing His praise, drinking in His beauty, His Majesty, eternally.

It’s getting darker by the day, friends. The Restrainer is pulling His hand back. Rejection and persecution are amping up in ways we’ve not witnessed in our lifetime. Church doors are closing daily, and the chaotic, confusing messages of the world are getting louder and louder. Wars and rumors of wars. Gender confusion. Plagues and masks, fear and isolation. Economic instability and social unrest—it all sounds like something out of a bad novel. Yet Jesus re-minds us in His Word not to be surprised by all these things we’re witnessing. Not to lose hope because of what we see happening around us. These things must happen. Instead, look up! Take courage and rejoice because your redemption, your long-awaited desire to see Jesus face-to-face, is about to be fulfilled!

Keep your lamps filled, child of God!

But until then, brothers and sisters, until He comes for us, keep loving each other—your neighbor as yourself. And don’t stop showing hospitality to those around you—give and give and give some more; you can never out-give God. Pray—always, for your loved ones, for that one in prison, and those behind bars. Pray for the one the Holy Spirit is calling in these final hours and minutes. Pray for yourself. Repent of your sins and turn to the only one who can save you. Jesus Christ. Eternity is a long time to have gotten it all wrong. So if you have yet to ask this Jesus into your heart and life as Lord and Savior, allow me to share this final reminder with you. “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”—John 14:6.

Please, ask Jesus into your heart today. We are not promised tomorrow. This is not a scare tactic, friend; it is the Truth spoken in love. Listen! You who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this city and stay a year and make money.” You do not know about tomorrow. What is your life? It is like fog. You see it and soon it is gone” –James 4:13-14.

Sacred Spaces.

July 17, 2021 / ministermaryellen@gmail.com

“God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us” –Acts 17:27.

“For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else” –Acts 17:23-25.

I love God’s written Word. It reveals His character and His kindness to Me. It has the power to remove scales from my eyes, and it softens areas in my heart I never even knew existed. God’s Living Word enables me to drink deeply and often from the very Source of my life.

I love meeting God in His Word, discovering Him there, being drawn into the very depths of Him.

Understanding His Justice and being ever thankful for the laws He gave, all that I might live free, safe, and protected. He is a Loving, intimate, deeply caring Father. A Father who, according to His Word, so loved me, so wanted to ensure that nothing, here and now, nor in eternity, ever separated us, that He gave His only Son in exchange for me, to demonstrate the depth of that love. He then placed His Holy Spirit in me, into this clay vessel, as surely as if He had slipped an engagement ring on my finger. Because He did, He has—I Am my Beloveds, and He is mine. “But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!” –Romans 5:8.

And yet, I also love those Kairos moments when I’m lost in Him.

When God sends His Spirit to enliven that one Word or sentence, when eternity lays exposed for the briefest of seconds, opening my understanding and forever changing me. These moments leave in their wake some intuitive understanding that I’ve just been given a most precious gift. A Pearl of Great Value. Some intimate “knowing” of Him. And all because I serve this Beautiful, Wonder-filled, personal God who loves me and desires that I know Him through His Word and His Spirit both. Relationally—Spirit and Truth, One.

My God, our Father, desires for us, all of us, to want Him, long to be with Him; He wants us to seek His face, look deeply into His eyes as only lovers do, and to witness the unplumbed depth of Him—to be one with Him. And no, I am by no means suggesting that a Pure and Holy God relates to us sexually. But what I am saying is this. The highest form of oneness expressed via human intimacy is between man and wife. And so, our God deigns to bend down to our level and use a language that will leave no doubt in our minds as to the depth of the connection He seeks with us, His beloved. The Song of Solomon is replete with such language and imagery. Solomon penned his love letter to his betrothed, the Shulamite woman. It foreshadows the intimate connection, the sacred love bond between Christ, our King, and His beloved bride. Listen to the bride’s heart-cry to her beloved: “Take me away with you—let us hurry! Let the king bring me into his chambers” –Song of Songs 1:4

Jesus Himself shared this Truth of the Father’s desire for such intimate connection with a Samaritan woman while talking with her near a well. A Truth as radical, liberating, as tradition-shaking, chain-breaking, and ceiling-raising as He Himself was when He walked amongst us—as He is, still. “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” –John 4:23-24.

Friends, our God doesn’t parcel Himself out to us. A wink here, a nod there. No, He is an exceedingly, abundantly, more than we can ever think or image, God. A God who still desires you and me. To be with us—Emmanuel, and to be seen by us. And though no longer with us in the flesh, now He openly shows Himself daily, through His creation. That we might catch some glimpse of His love and tender care for us through what He has created for us—wooing us to fall more and more in love with Him because of our seeing Him ever before us. “Of old You founded the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. “Even they will perish, but You endure; And all of them will wear out like a garment; Like clothing You will change them and they will be changed. “But You are the same, And Your years will not come to an end” –Psalm 102:25-27.

“Sacred Spaces.” These two words have been stirring in my belly for the past several weeks now. These places God has created, carved out, that He might transcend time and space as we under it and intimately unveil Himself, show some aspect of Himself, His favor or will, His goodness, mercy, or great love, some personal attribute of His, to you and me. Imagine! Yet this awareness of sacred spaces isn’t new to me; only God has enlivened it, breathed on it, allowing me to see afresh, something I have been aware of for many years. I’ll explain.

From the beginning, literally, in Genesis 2, verse 8, we witness God create a sacred space to fellowship with His children, His beloved. A place to meet with them, sharing, displaying the many facets of Himself that they might witness Him, and drink Him in. Creator God. Abba God. God, our Provider. The Omniscient and Omnipotent God. A Tender, Merciful, Loving Father. The Sole Giver of every good and perfect gift. Supreme Artist and Author. A Jealous Lover of His own, to name but a few. And because of who He is, has proven Himself, shown Himself to be from the beginning. From somewhere back before, He stood over the dark void when He chose me in Himself before the very foundation of the world has even lain. Faithful and True, time and time and time again; I stand firmly on, and take deep comfort in, the Truth found in Matthew 28:20: “…surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age”.

Knowing this Truth, believing it, assures me that contrary to how I may feel on any given day, my ability to sense Abba’s nearness, or not, God is nevertheless closer to me than my own breath.

Still, there are moments and places where, whether for seconds or minutes, maybe hours sometime, God pulls back the veil, and His palpable presence surrounds me—is undeniably with me. And, because of His being “with me,” all else melts away, is melting away still—especially time. I wonder if Adam and Eve ever felt this way when God walked with them in the cool of the day?

So, whenever I am blessed to catch the sunlight settling on some leaf, setting it ablaze, transforming its everydayness into something fiery, glowing, and alive. Or when the full weight of the sun gives itself over to the surface of the water, and a trillion sparkling tiny diamonds bursting forth because of that union. Or when the branches dance just so with the wind. When the morning birdsong fills the air swirling about my backyard, or when I float on my back in the sea, imagining it is God’s own hands, not buoyant force, at work cradling me—upholding me. When the intoxicating fragrance of some flower awakens something in me, allowing me to catch some watered-down heavenly scent of the prayers of the saints that have clung to Him as He passed before me. Sacred spaces each of these; places where God dropped a ladder from heaven to earth, and, in so doing, the things of heaven mingled with earth for one sacred moment, transforming everything in its wake. I know I have witnessed some aspect of my Jesus in those moments.

I know my God has revealed Himself to me in the way only dear and trusted friends do with each other, drawing me ever deeper into Himself as a result. “Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known” –Jeremiah 33:3.

So let me ask you: “Has the Lord been in your midst, wooing you, loving you, calling out for you to come and sit awhile with Him? Has He carved out some sacred space for the two of you to meet, and, like Adam and Eve maybe, you hid from His nearness?” Feared coming too close to His Beauty, His passion for you—His presence? If so, you’re in good company. Moses feared meeting the Lord face to face too. Yet before you turn away entirely, consider this, please. The very God that created you wants you, all for Himself! And He wants you to have an eternal, loving, and wide-open relationship with Him.

Lorraine Espenhain says this concerning God’s wanting us for Himself: How swift was Heaven’s intervention in the day His jealousy was aroused, when He saw you loving, needing, trusting, desiring, enjoying, and reaching out for something other than Him! From His temple He saw you giving to another what solely belonged to Him, and His jealousy was ignited in Heaven. Said scripturally: “I belong to my beloved, and his desire is for me” –Song of Solomon 7:10.

How awesome and humbling it is to know that our God loves us with such a fierce, intimate, and passionate love. That He created—creates still, these sacred spaces, these transformational moments in time when His Holy Spirit overshadows us—Mary-like, enabling us to conceive of Him—some part of Him alive in us! The impossible made possible. A miracle for sure. God allowing mere men to take inside of themself their Creator! Who but God could make such a thing happen! To enable finite man to take into himself the Divine. The Apostle Paul said it this way: “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” –1 Corinthians 4:7. And who but God could weave together the 66 books of the Bible, threading the 39 books of the Old Testament seamlessly into the 27 books of the New Testament?

Dear friend, if you’ve yet to experience this kind of love, this God who so loved you that He made sure you’d be reading this today so that you might ask Him to show Himself real to you right now. He’s patiently waiting just for you. His creation leaves us without excuse on that day; every man will stand before the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. So won’t you come to Him now? “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge” –Psalm 19:1-2.

Unmatched Favor.

July 10, 2021 / ministermaryellen@gmail.com

“The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” -James 5:16b

Someone recently shared this verse with me, and it struck me like a bolt of lightning, lighting up my core. The word prayer is one of those words that, to the average person, can be a term that’s just thrown around like any other sentiment. Someone saying “I’ll pray for you” is often a straightforward response to a difficult situation. Yet, some people use the word prayer in conjunction with their “thoughts” as if they’re the same. Prayer, however, is a most powerful weapon to Christians. It is as real as the blog you’re reading right now. It’s as pure and necessary as the air you breathe in, yet potent enough to elicit a response from a very real God who has the power to change those things you desire to see changed. The whole verse reads as follows: “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” -James 5:16.

By enabling us to pray to Him, God has given us such a powerful tool to use in the simple act of communicating with Him.

Today’s verse doesn’t say that the thoughts of a person are powerful and effective. It also doesn’t say that the prayers of just any person are powerful and effective. It does say: “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”

Effective: successful in producing a desired or intended result. (The Oxford Dictionary)

I often think about praying for someone or something and then forget to do it; I’m confident that others can relate to this. Lately, however, I have been feeling challenged in this area.

Thinking about praying and actually praying are two totally different things, much like thinking about going to the market and actually going to the market are two different things, yielding two hugely different results. Thinking about praying is like talking to yourself about any given situation. On your own, you don’t have the power to see the impossible come to pass. However, partnering with God through prayer plugging into your power source; that’s when you see miracles happen, answers falling like rain. We see countless times in scripture this practice of others asking God a thing in prayer, in faith, believing that if it is in accordance with His will, it will be done for them, and then they receive it. “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” -1 John 5:14.

“If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” -John 14:14.

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” -Matthew 7:7-8

“You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows.” -Job 22:27.

So yes, while prayer is a place of receiving from the Lord, it’s also the place where we commune with Him, draw near to Him. “The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.” -Psalm 145:18.

Have you ever met someone who seems to get every prayer they pray answered? For me, I witnessed someone like this a few years ago. She was a personal mentor of mine and was an avid prayer warrior. She was so confident in God that she prayed and believed in EVERYTHING. Let me tell you, things I never even thought to pray for; things that seemed to be part of everyday life, she would respond to them in prayer. Many things she prayed for came to pass.

So, what caused this woman to find such favor with God? What empowered her prayers, rendering them effective?

As I read and reread James 5:16, I remembered her. That mentor I had so many years ago whose prayers seemed to shake heaven and earth, and I wondered about this kind of person. What makes their prayers so potent? How does “how they pray,” their heart posture—differ from yours and mine? After all, doesn’t God love the whole world? Does He not love us all the same? The answer to this, I believe, is found right in James 5:16. God hears and answers the prayer of a righteous person. “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” –1 Peter 3:12.

Righteousness, in the eyes of God, does not happen overnight. Yes, we are saved in a moment, but then there’s the lifelong process of kicking old habits and renewing our minds that can only happen in the presence of God. Having both a consistent prayer life and walk with the Lord enable us, strengthens us to live a righteous life. God makes us new in His presence. We begin to reflect the glory of the Lord as the result of His calling us as His righteous ones. The reality of His presence in us, as we make our hearts His home, becomes visible—tangible in our lives, making its way out of us. His Light in us, pouring out now. And we begin to see Him answering our prayers in ways we never thought possible.

As we draw nearer to God, our prayers become ever more effective, taking on the power that can only come from on High. God’s favor cloaks us, and we begin to walk with a peace that surpasses our understanding.

Yet with this newfound power for answered prayer, a caveat. Scripture makes clear, and I believe, the Lord is not interested in prayers bred from selfish motives. He knows your heart. I don’t know that God will grant you a Ferrari just because you want to live in luxury, but I do know that if your prayer springs from a place of wanting to further the kingdom of God, of making God known, He will listen. “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures… “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” … “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.” -James 4:3, 6, & 10.

God responds to a humble heart. A heart that places others before themselves, a heart that seeks to honor Him above themselves. Humility moves God.

Abiding in the shelter of the Lord, obeying Him, is one way to find favor in God’s eyes. He wants your whole heart, your undivided attention, not just your passing thoughts or your spare time. I pray you find the blessing of the Lord as you seek to know Him more. And, if you have yet to invite Jesus into your heart and life, I invite you to do that today. I pray you’ll pursue knowing God. and His purpose and plan for your life. “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved” –Romans 10:9-10.

Get Good Friends.

June 19, 2021 / ministermaryellen@gmail.com

“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another” –Proverbs 27:17.

Our friendships are some of the most important relationships we have in this life. And a good friend knows the best and worst versions of us…

They know what makes our eyes light up and what makes our blood boil. Our friends have seen our tears, both happy and sad. They’ve celebrated our victories and shared comforting or encouraging words when we most needed them. Often, those we call friends can have great sway over us. So, depending on the type of friends you’re surrounding yourself with, your opinions are apt to change. I would dare to say that most people are not the resolved, independent thinkers they may credit themselves to be. Think about it: When you spend time with one group of friends, you may think what they have to say makes sense, rendering you agreeable to their opinions. Get around a different group of friends, those who offer differing or opposing information on the same subject, and suddenly, your opinion may change yet again. One of the many powers of friendship is its potential to sway us, one way or another. So, the question then is not if you are growing within your friendships; instead, how are we growing within them?

Are your friendships nudging you toward God, or are they moving you away from Him?

Thankfully, the Bible has so much to say about friendship. Proverbs 27:17 reads, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” So, who is sharpening you?

As I was considering this verse the other day, I had this profound realization regarding Iron sharpening iron. I have never heard of an iron blade sharpened by wood or pure gold. Why? I believe the answer is evident. Iron is denser than both materials. Knife blades carve wood, and hand files are used in shaping gold, but neither gold nor wood would have any tangible impact on shaping iron. It takes a compound of equal or greater strength to sharpen an object made of iron. So too, our Christian friends, like iron blades, keep us sharp when it comes to our friendships.

Suppose we don’t refresh ourselves through Godly relationships. In that case, our faith gets weaker and our spirits duller as we allow ourselves to be inundated with secular ideologies—“Sweet friendships refresh the soul and awaken our hearts with joy.” –Proverbs 27:9. Yes, we can read our Bibles, go to church, listen to podcasts, watch sermons, and read books. Each of these is a necessary thing in our Christian walk; I believe that. But suppose our “friendship time” is filled with ungodly relationships? In that case, we become people then filled with a bunch of head knowledge minus the Godly accountability that undergirds the Truth we’ve found in God’s Word. As I think about what’s happening around the world, I sometimes get overwhelmed, trying not to get caught up in the fear and uncertainty running rampant through the earth. I must remind myself that there is hope, and I believe that hope can be found in the Church of Jesus Christ because God’s Spirit is alive in His people. “… it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” Galatians 2:20.

Over this past year, it became far too easy for people to get comfortable watching church from home; then going on about their everyday lives through the rest of their week. From the couch, they watch a sermon on Sunday in solitude, moving on then to their jobs and families, forgetting somehow that there is, needs to be, a gathering of the believers. As I reflected on this new reality of how many have been “doing Church,” I gained a new appreciation for the weight of the Truth found in Hebrews 10:25. “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” I now possess a greater understanding of the importance of gathering with other like-minded people. Why? Because being around our Christian community challenges us to uphold God’s standard to the best of our ability. Rather than being swayed by the eloquent words of the world, being in church receiving solid teaching and submitting ourselves to the ministry regularly reminds us of what the Bible teaches us.

And while it’s comfortable to stay home on Sunday morning, the danger lies in getting caught up in the undertow of the world, drifting further and further away from the Godly influences His righteous people have in our lives. Suddenly, secular ideologies don’t sound so bad now. Why? Because the people you’ve surrounded yourself with have given you ample reasons to believe what it is they believe. And all the while, without you even realizing it, your flame is growing dimmer and dimmer. Although you’ve been given the power to influence the world, drawing them to Christ, instead, you’ve allowed your blade to become dull, unused.

Those who don’t know the Word of God will never be able to sharpen you in the things of God.

Conversely, establishing relationships with other believers sharpens your blade, enabling you then to inscribe an imprint on the world around you. From the above passages, we learn that Godly friendships will encourage you and move you towards loving as God loves and doing good according to God’s standard of good. They will refresh your soul and make you strong. I have a newfound appreciation for my Christian friendships. I love my neighbors and coworkers, mind you, but there is just something special about the encouragement that comes from my brothers and sisters in Christ.

When I consider the constant barrage of shifting opinions and ideas that come at me from others, whether via social media, the news, or just from those I encounter daily, I remind myself of my need for the consistency of God’s Word. In a world swirling with confusion and ever-changing opinions, the Word of God is the one thing that always remains constant; it is our solid rock. “As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built” –Luke 6:47-48.

Putting God’s Word into practice builds that strong foundation in your life.

And having Godly friends and community around you is vital to your living a Godly life. If you don’t yet have a community of Christian friends, I strongly encourage you to find a church where you can form solid Christian friendships that will sharpen you and encourage you to live according to God’s will and Word.

If you haven’t yet accepted Jesus into your heart, consider this your invitation to become a part of the family of God. The Bible says in 1 John 1:9 that “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” When you humble yourself and repent before the Lord, He will cleanse your heart and give you a new identity in Him.

Welcome to the family!

Tag, You’re It! Part Two…

June 5, 2021 / ministermaryellen@gmail.com

“For Christ [the Messiah Himself] died for sins once for all, the Righteous for the unrighteous (the Just for the unjust, the Innocent for the guilty), that He might bring us to God. In His human body He was put to death, but He was made alive in the spirit” –1 Peter 3:18.

To err is human; that said,I apologize for the grammatical slaying of the title of last week’s post for those of you that caught it. Though I am confident it will not be my last grammatical blunder, it was blatant. I do know how to spell, I promise! Moving forward then…

Last week, we read how God had used the Apostle Peter to break down the wall of separation that stood between the gentiles and their receiving the Gospel message. We’ll conclude this two-part teaching with this post. So, to recap: Though not the first gentile believer to hear the Gospel message, Cornelius, a Roman centurion, and those in his household, were the first gentiles we witness in Acts to receive the Gospel message directly from one of the Apostles. Until Acts 10, where you can read about the Apostle Peter sharing the Gospel with Cornelius and those in his household, the Gospel had mainly been shared with other Jews and those Gentile converts to Judaism. Such was the case with Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, a treasurer and a court official of Candace, Queen of the Ethiopians. This eunuch was the first known gentile believer we encounter in Acts to hear about Jesus and to come to saving faith in Him. You can read all about their encounter in Acts 8:26-40.

Ready? Let’s jump around a bit…

Though both Philip and Peter each ministered to gentiles, it is Jesus Himself who first gave us some glimpse of His plan to include “others,” the so-called unclean outsiders into His Church—His Body. In John’s Gospel account, we read about Jesus doing the unthinkable, the forbidden, for any respectable Jewish man, that is, to say nothing of a Rabbi. We witness Jesus talking with a Samaritan woman at a well. Augustine calls her “a symbol of the Church not yet made righteous.” “The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he” –John 4:25-26. Augustine continues by saying that she came from a foreign people is part of the symbolic meaning, for she is a symbol of the Church. The Church was to come from the Gentiles, of a different race from the Jews.

The ApostlePaul may have bristled at Augustine’s declaration, saying perhaps that salvation came first to the Jew and then to the Gentile. Yet both would agree that God had planned to graft the Gentiles into His Church, the Original Vine—His Body, making them One, in Messiah Jesus. “So then, remember that at one time you Gentiles by birth, called “the uncircumcision” by those who are called “the circumcision”—a physical circumcision made in the flesh by human hands—remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” –Ephesians 2:11-13.

This Is Me, And You. Abraham, too.

May 8, 2021 / ministermaryellen@gmail.com

“Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised” –Hebrews 4:9-10.

I literally have no idea just how many times I have read these very verses over the years. Nevertheless, today, the Holy Spirit allowed me to see them anew—more profound somehow.

As a Christian, I know the Truth found in these few lines of Scripture, in this chapter, really. More, I believe them.

In them is found the very foundation of who I am and in whom I believe. The Rock-Solid Truth on which I hang the full weight of my hope. Yet as I read them today, it was as if the Holy Spirit allowed me somehow to see their Truth afresh. It was as if His Words took on a life of their own, like some scene unfolding before me, animated. For just the briefest of moments, He opened my heart to understand these verses more personally, and in an instant, I was visually transported back to a little church by the sea. That place where the Lord saw fit, one spring day in March, to first whisper, “Come, follow Me.” Years later, He would whisper this same command when He anointed me to birth this blog. And yet it didn’t start there—my relationship with God, I mean. I didn’t go searching for Him on that Spring day; He called me—had been wooing me. I know that now. All I knew then was I had this pressing, inexplicable need to go to that little church by the sea, so I went.

I now understand I was one of those lost sheep Jesus spoke of in Luke 15:4. “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?” And way back when so too was Father Abraham—He was a lost sheep as well. I also understand that Jesus had a plan for both of our lives; I know that now, I didn’t then. A plan that would only unfold after He’d pull from our bellies the very faith, He’d placed in them, in eternity past. Faith is the genesis of everything. Without it, we can’t do anything. “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” –Hebrews 11:6.

I forget that sometimes as I read Scripture. I forget that Abraham, and Moses, David and Daniel, Martha, and Mary, Paul, and Peter, all of these had been given their own measure of faith—just as you and I have been.

Yet Scripture informs me that though I possess this faith, say nothing of the gifts and talents on lone to me; I cannot lay claim to them as if they were something I made happen. Something I did or found on my own, lest pride swells up in me, and I fall. As with everything else in my life, even the very measure of faith I possess is a precious gift given me from my Heavenly Father. “I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith” 1 Corinthians 12:9. Equally true is this: This measure of faith was given me because God had already accepted me as His own; He’d chosen me in Christ Jesus in eternity past.

Sitting in that little seaside church on that spring day, how could I have known that? For that matter, neither would Abraham have had any idea the day God showed up, of the call, nor the unfathomable blessing that would soon be made manifest in his life as he went about his everyday life in Ur. “And he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them” –Romans 4:11.

See, that’s the thing the Holy Spirit illuminated afresh today. How profoundly personal our conversion is, and how suddenly it is that we are changed. Just how suddenly this literal life-changing gift is bestowed upon us. Abraham and I are both witness to this Truth. One moment we were dead in our sins, and then, in the twinkling of an eye, we were made new. And so too were that great cloud of witnesses that went on to glory before me. One second, we were all dead in our sins, and in the next, in fulfillment of the will and plan of God, all were washed clean; made a new creation in Christ Jesus, His now, eternally.

That’s where it all starts, in that nanosecond in time, determined in eternity past. Hear the Word of God: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you [and approved of you as My chosen instrument], And before you were born I consecrated you [to Myself as My own]; I have appointed you as a prophet to the nations” –Jeremiah 29:11.

Did you catch what the Prophet Jeremiah said by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit?

God chooses us before we ever come into being. And, not only had Jeremiah been chosen by God, given his measure of faith by Him, more, wrapped up in His being chosen, was Jeremiah’s calling. His purpose. So too is ours, our “one-of-a-kind calling,” our unique piece of the creation puzzle that God will anoint, using it to bring His eternal plan to fruition. “My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them” –Psalm 139:15-16.

The Apostle Paul found this foundational Truth of being chosen in Christ Jesus and gifted with faith of such import that it permeates almost all His writings. “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned” Romans 12:3.

John Piper says it this way concerning Paul’s writings. Concerning this faith that we who believe are given: God has given all Christians varying measures of faith. This is the faith with which we receive and use our varying gifts. It is the ordinary daily faith by which we live and minister. Paul’s final remedy for spiritual pride is to say that not only are spiritual gifts a work of God’s free grace in our lives, but so also is the very faith with which we use those gifts. This means that every possible ground of boasting is taken away. How can we boast if even the qualification for receiving gifts is also a gift?

The Apostle Paul says it plainly: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” –Ephesians 2:8-9.

So perhaps this brief visual journey afforded me by the Holy Spirit today came as a reminder? Maybe He was reminding me how the faith I claim as my own came into being? Perhaps I need re-minding of that sometimes? There’s no perhaps about it; actually, shamefully, I do.

Why? I find it curious, wholly human perhaps, how I can hold something as sacred as my faith so dear, yet so dispassionately at times. As if taking it for granted somehow. At times we forget, in our flesh, that our faith must be stirred up. Watched over and cherished, as the treasure of great price that it is—guarded, with our very lives. I, for one, am thankful that the Holy Spirit reminds me of this Truth when I become lax.

Perhaps today, I needed to be re-minded to cling to this precious treasure I have been entrusted with. Re-minded to continuously exercise my faith on behalf of those who have yet to come into their measure of faith? Re-minded perhaps, that on a day I did not expect Him, the Spirit of the Living God came, suddenly, and blessed me with this precious, Life-giving gift of faith—just as He had for Father Abraham, just as He’ll do for you. And so, friend, if you’ve yet to call this faith your own, you can now. I believe the Holy Spirit has led you here for just that reason, to bless you with your measure of faith.

But first, you must ask Him to come into your life as Lord and Savior. Confess that you have sinned and that you need Him. Then stand still and watch the Lord fight for you—change you, increase with time, the measure of faith He’ll give you today. “Now not for his sake alone was it written that it was credited to him, but for our sake also—to whom righteousness will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead—who was betrayed and crucified because of our sins, and was raised [from the dead] because of our justification [our acquittal—absolving us of all sin before God]” –Romans 4:23-25.

We Have A Great High Priest…

April 24, 2021 / ministermaryellen@gmail.com

“For this reason He had to be made like His brothers in every way, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, in order to make atonement for the sins of the people” –Hebrews 2:17.

This morning has been pain-filled—my heart is heavy. Truth be told, this has been a very trying season. Some seasons are just like that. And when we’re walking through our pain—at least when I am, it’s easy to fall into despair. To forget for a time that, even though what we’re experiencing is real, we shouldn’t be surprised that it’s happening—or that it hurts as bad as it does. Jesus assured us that as long as we’re on this earth, things like this will happen. But how easy it is to forget that sometimes. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” –John 14:27.

I’m sure it’s because of just how pain-filled these recent times have been for me that the Holy Spirit came as only He can in His gentle, loving way, and reminded me of something this morning that I needed to be reminded of. Something I’d recently heard the character who portrays Jesus in the series, The Chosen, say. A statement He made in response to a question posed to Him by the hostess of a dinner party He was attending.

The hostess asked, “When I was a little girl, my father told me the Messiah would bring an end to pain and suffering. If you are who people are saying you are, when will you do that?” And the character that portrays Jesus responded: “I’m here to preach the Good News of the Kingdom of heaven, a Kingdom that is not of this world, a Kingdom that is coming soon, so yes, sorrow and sighing will flee away. I make a way for people to access that Kingdom but, in this world, bones will still break, hearts will still break. But in the end, Light will overcome darkness.” I needed to be re-minded of that today. And I thank the Holy Spirit, not only for what He deposits within me but equally, for what He re-minds me of when I need reminding. And so I’m here to re-mind you, as well. Because perhaps like me, you may need reminding right now.

But first, notice Jesus’ response to this woman. He pointed her towards the Good News—towards God’s Kingdom, towards The Truth. And then He addressed her concerns. So today, as I share with you what God has placed on my heart, I pray it points you towards God. Towards His Kingdom, and His Word—made flesh. Towards the Truth; towards Jesus and His great Love for you.

Over these past several months, I’ve lost four dear friends. I take great comfort in knowing that I will see them again one day soon as each of them knew Jesus. But it still hurts that they’re no longer with me now. In addition, I’m currently typing this message in an entirely different state, as in location. I’m here because the enemy has attacked my family, and the Lord suddenly sent me here, for now, to help. Also, before I began typing this teaching this morning, I was—I have been, praying with my brothers and sisters back home for a dear brother in Christ who is undergoing surgery today to remove a cancerous tumor from his body. Updates continue to come in via text of complications the doctors have encountered. Suffice it to say that my heart hurts this morning—it’s heavy. Yet, at the same time, by God’s grace, I have great peace.

As I was sitting here praying, pouring my heart out to the Lord, the Holy Spirit, my precious Comforter, came. And, doing what only He can, He began ministering to my broken heart.

He reminded me, as I had just reminded my friend’s wife via a text message, that we have a Great High Priest who has tasted everything—every emotion and situation we can imagine. So, He knows—can personally relate to, exactly what we’re feeling and thinking. He is not a God who is far off. He is close to us—to my friend in surgery and me right now, to his wife and his family as well. He’s close in the hour of our deep need. He’s close to my son and your son or daughter in their moment of need. Closer even than we can fathom. And I, for one, am so grateful for that fact right now because I need what only Jesus can give me—His peace and strength. “Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall. But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint” –Isiah 40:30-31.

I am grateful for the assurance that He will never leave me nor forsake me—no matter the circumstances—no matter what every demon springing up around me may be screaming at me right now!

I know God is with me –I trust Him. And He sent me here to you today not only to share my testimony but also to remind you that as surely as God is with me, so too is He with you. If you are His child, then His Spirit at work in us reminds us that we are to walk by faith, not by sight, not according to how we feel. Feelings change; Truth doesn’t. His Spirit in us reminds us to trust Him. Especially now, when so much of what is going on around us makes absolutely no sense. In these trying and uncertain seasons of my life—these dark and challenging valleys, I am so thankful that I don’t have to walk by sight. That I can trust Jesus to lead and guide me instead. Otherwise, I don’t know if I would make it out of this present pain-filled valley in one piece, to experience the mountaintop, once again, that faith and my relationship with Jesus have taught me are waiting for me on the other side of this. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” –Hebrews 4:15-16.

I’m also reminded this morning that no matter how painful this valley may be, I’m not walking through it blindly. This pain will not overtake me because Jesus made sure to forewarn me that people will get cancer in this fallen and sin-riddled world—yet He is with them, still. They’ll die what seems like way too early, in my mind at least. Divorce will happen, and we’ll be forced to stand by and watch those we love walk through the pain it brings while not being able to do one thing to stop it from happening. Our children will become addicted—or maybe our parents. They’ll make lifestyle choices that, as Christians, we cannot and do not agree with—and yet we’ll love them despite their choices. Just as Jesus loved us—and still does. Despite those sinful choices we continue to make. “Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted” –Hebrews 2:18.

We may never understand—or know why God allows certain things to happen to us or to those we love, this side of heaven that is. But if we have a relationship with Jesus, this much we do know about Him now, today, for certain: He’s a loving Father. A Good God. And because we know this, know Him—because we’ve tasted and seen for ourselves that He alone is Good, we can confidently say as Job did: “…What? Shall we receive only pleasant things from the hand of God and never anything unpleasant?” –Job 2:10. In fact, right before Jesus was about to be betrayed—about to willingly take up His Cross. Before His sinless Body was about to be ripped open by the Roman whip, well before thorns were viciously pressed into His forehead and scalp, and before spikes were savagely driven through His wrists and feet and a spear jabbed into His side, Jesus assured His disciples—comforted them really, us too, me right now, with these Words: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” –John 16:33.

All you and I can do is comfort and pray for each other, friends—be Jesus’ hands and feet, honestly, compassionately, and tangibly.

Because whatever valley I may find myself in, whatever my sister and her husband will face once he’s out of surgery today, whatever valley my son or your son or daughter, your parent or parents may be walking through at this very moment. By God’s grace alone, we must remember, as we pass through it, that we have not endured the ultimate betrayal, the pain—physical or emotional, that Jesus suffered for us—for me, lest I ever forget His pain was personal. It was and still is personal for you, too.

So, if like me, and so many others today, you find yourself in the valley of despair—walking through pain so heavy it’s taking all you have to just put one foot in front of the other, please friend, know you are not alone right now. Even as I type, I am still praying—for you this time. I’m praying and take authority over whatever has your heart in its vice-like grip this day, in Jesus’ name. I’m praying you will follow my lead and cry out to the One who knows us better than we know ourselves—the One who sees the end of your situation from its beginning, despite your pain.

Cry out to the One who saw it all coming and will, no matter how it looks to you right now, no matter how hard it is for you to believe you’re going to get through this, more, believe that you’ll eventually smile and thrive and grow and love and heal and forgive and reach out, again. And why? Because we have this Great High Priest who not only felt and experienced everything we have, He will also empower us to overcome this. This same Jesus assures us in His Word that: “I am the LORD, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me” –Jeremiah 32:27.

So If you’re reading this and have said to yourself, “wait, this is me! This is how I’ve been feeling, too! I’m walking in a valley of my own right now. Then won’t you cry out to Jesus for help? And, if you’ve yet to ask this Jesus into your life and heart as Lord, what better time than while you’re in a pain-filled valley? Why? Because He’s just waiting for you to ask for His help, waiting to help you walk through it. He’ll come and forgive and restore, renew, and heal you, right where you are. Yes, friend, even there in the thick of that sin you think is so unforgivable. Just repent of your sins today and ask Jesus into your heart. Why go it alone when you can do it with Jesus? “He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and misguided, since he himself is beset by weakness” –Hebrews 5:2.

Category: Connection (Page 7 of 9)

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