Power, love, and a little self control...

2 Timothy 1:6 says, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of POWER, LOVE, AND SELF DISCIPLINE."

That sounds FANTASTIC!  I love watching football, so the first thing I think of when I see the word power is a big hit on the grid iron!  God's hand at work is powerful.  Love is all around us, it's always moving, never ending, and never fails  (1 Cor. 13).  Last but not least, self control/discipline is something that I would boldly claim is basically unheard of in today's world.  Not forgotten, but we live in a greed filled society that strives off of a very fast paced, always needing something-hunger.

Alright, so let's dive in a little deeper here.  How often do we let ourselves fear who we are in Christ? Love? Self discipline?  I'll be completely honest, I'm weary about letting myself go full on Christian in front of some people.  It's so much easier to do it in a church setting.  It's hard to find balance in a world that doesn't always accept beliefs.  A good friend of mine told me this, "we can say that beliefs and opinions are fine, until someone disagrees with your opinion."  -It's all downhill from there.- 

Ah, that word that we all....well....LOVE!  Love is beautiful eh?  It really is.  The picture of the cross really reminds of me of what today's love to the world looks like big picture.  Let me break that down more.  Picture Jesus' death on the cross, bloody and gruesome right?  But he loved us through the ugliness and harshness of all of it.  Fast forward to today.  Loving this world that's exactly that, harsh and ugly is a difficult task.  So when we're loving on this world, I'm reminded of the famous words in God's word (I hope that makes sense.  Basically what I was picturing Is that Jesus love meets us anywhere.)

I have been using this verse lately at work, because in a work place and in life things get tough, and it's easy to be timid and fearful.  When things go wrong, that's usually our first instinct huh.  Sometimes I feel like just giving up.  Every once in a while I'll just want to walk out of the store and be done for the day.  One of the things I'm quickly reminded of is how Jesus didn't give up in his journey to the cross.  He did not just walk out.  Although multiple times in scripture he was given plenty of opportunity to walk out on God's plans. One of my favorites is when Jesus was tempted by satan in Luke 4. 

I'll continue this here after a while, wanted to post this due to it's length! Enjoy!

Jesus found strength from Above...

This entry was written on March 21st of 2013. At like nine pm.

 

  So in church last sunday, we talked about the death of Jesus on the cross, and the things that went on in John chapter nineteen. John doesn't really go into any detail about how Jesus was killed on the cross. So you could assume that Mel Gibson's passion of the Christ was based off of one of the other gospels. One thing that John did focus on multiple times was belief vs. unbelief. I think sometimes we get a little caught up in the cross to think about anything that happened before or after. The cross is magnificent, it's powerful, and it's the focal point and center piece of Jesus' life. But there were things that needed to happen before and after for it to happen. I wouldn't be here typing this tonight if all of those things had not happened. Praise the Lord for that!

 

Anyways. The reading began in chapter 19:16. It says "Then Pilate turned Jesus over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus away." I love that Jesus was tempted so many times during his life to just quit his journey leading to his death...but He always found a way, and said, it's not my time, my time is still to come. It's so amazing that He would go through so much for me, and never give up, when he could have so many times. How many times do we give up when we could fight through? Yeah...pretty sobering huh! Let that soak in and encourage you though.

 

 We shouldn't be so quick to just break down and give up. May we fight through, and remember what He told us in Jeremiah, and in many other places. "Don't fear, but be strong and courageous, for I am with you!" It's great to know that God is always with us whenever we are weak. He holds us through all the storms, not just one or two, but every single collision that we come up against! Awesome stuff! On with the reading! Jesus carries the cross to a place called Golgotha, also known as the place of the skull. It's where Jesus was hung on the cross. He was crucified with a man on each side of Him, and they put a sign above Him for all to read. It read, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." It was written in different languages for all to read. Just before He died He fulfilled His promise and took on it all in saying, "IT IS FINISHED." Meaning that you're sin can no longer decide who you are. No matter what you do you are no longer guilty, you are free and innocent with no charge....if you believe in the name of Jesus that died on that very cross for your sins. Be free! Be innocent, because you are more than anything you've ever done, because He became sin for us! So that we could become the righteousness of God.

 

Whoo Wee that is good news my friends! I feel like there are so many things within the last few moments of Jesus' life that I could talk about for hours. I'm going to end this one here due to it's length and pray about what I think will impact you most!

Grace, Peace, and love unto you my friends!

Pooh.