All In A Days Grace

  Who is Jesus to us? What are our expectations of him?   Are we aligned with his true character or have we allowed time or the world to skew our perception of him. Do we believe in a Jesus that we’ve created in our own mind, or have we searched the scriptures and come to know Jesus for who he is, rather than whom we might want or need him to be? Before you confidently say you know him, take into account the misconceptions that even his parents had at times. Take a moment to comprehend how his followers, who had seen miracles and lived and talked with him, became disillusioned. Pause to contemplate the complexity of his personhood and the depths of his divinity. “Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Passover festival.   42  When Jesus was twelve years old, they attended the festival as usual.   43  After the celebration was over, they started home to Nazareth, but Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents didn’t miss him at first, ...

We often times read through scripture with ears and eyes only for the obvious or amplified. If you’ve spent any time in scripture you know there are portions of the bible that seem repetitive; as if trying to drive a point. Many stories, commands and instructions are repeated. As our assumptions might prove true, it does happen for the very reason we suspect; an important point is being made. Does that mean that things said only once are less important? Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 “ All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.   God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. ” All scripture…. even the things mentioned once, or briefly touched upon, as we skim past. I came upon such a piece of scripture the other day while reading the book of John. It was a quick reference that I may have missed on any other d...

Each week I sit with the prayer requests and take some quiet time to lift them up to God. Some are more specific than others. Some have details and others are vague.  At times I start out simply asking God to intervene on behalf of the person requesting prayer, but more times than not I catch myself asking for more specific solutions. Things that make sense to me, answers that I think are attainable.  Then I catch myself because I realize….. I’m limiting God. Our Heavenly Father knows us intimately and He knows something about me. I’m a fixer. I like to find solutions and work through them in order to help people in difficult situations. I take the issue at hand and I think of all the possible ways in which it can be resolved. Possible.     Probable.     Realistic.   Attainable. Before I know it I have constructed a plan in my head and I begin to lift this plan up to God. God. The one who can do the impossible , I hand a possible, probable, rea...