I Must Tell Jesus!

I must tell Jesus! I must tell Jesus!

I cannot bear my burdens alone;

I must tell Jesus! I must tell Jesus!

Jesus can help me, Jesus alone.*

As we travel the road of life we encounter trials and we bear burdens that are heavy. I was praying last night and had something on my heart that I was asking the Lord to help me with. And the above chorus came to mind—a song I haven’t heard in years.

We carry heavy burdens that weigh us down, make us discouraged and depressed, and cause us to feel defeated. Sometimes we feel that we will never have victory. I am guilty of going around the same mountain over and over. Lather, rinse, repeat. Why do we do that? Victory is ours if we will trust Jesus with the burden!

These burdens can be harassing thoughts from the enemy, circumstances of life, or sins that we just can’t seem to overcome. 

We must understand we were never meant to carry these burdens. Jesus wants to take them from us! We can have victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

Another line from a song comes to mind, “Take it to the Lord in prayer!”** 

So the theme the Spirit is impressing upon me today is that the Lord will help you! Spend time with Him! Talk to Him about your burdens. The load is too heavy for you to bear alone.  

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Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. —1 Peter 5:7, NLT

Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord… —Romans 7:24-25, NLT

*I Must Tell Jesus, by Elisha Hoffman (1893)

**What a Friend We Have in Jesus, by Joseph Medlicott Scriven (1855)

My Story (Part 3): Lessons From Brokenness

The Holy Spirit has led me to share from my life once again…

 

I keep journals of my time with the Lord—records of what I have learned from His Word, prayers I have prayed, and words He has spoken to me. In January of this year, after several days of reviewing and updating my blogsite, I prayed:

 

     “Father, the woman who wrote those blogs years ago seemed so confident. Who is she? Where is she? I have struggled so much. I have sinned. I have disobeyed You. I have lived through so much loss. And those things I wrote, I failed to live them with the confidence that I wrote them. Life hit me hard!

 

     “Please forgive me. I allowed distractions to pull me away from the close relationship I had with You—or the close relationship I thought I had. Was it an illusion? Did the testing reveal I didn’t have what I thought I did? Or did the testing pull me away from the true relationship I did have with You?

 

     “Words come easy. Life is hard. I want to be real. I want an authentic, honest relationship with You. I want fellowship with You that is deep and meaningful—and I need it every day.”

 

I went through a lot of brokenness to get to where I am now—my first husband’s suffering and death due to cancer, the loss of several other loved ones, my personal battle with cancer, and deep wounds caused by other broken people.

 

But I believe that from my brokenness I can do more for God than I could have ever done before. Because before we are broken, we can believe we have it all together. Our self-reliance opens a door and pride walks in. We depend upon ourselves and our own abilities, rather than seeking direction from the Lord.

 

God uses the hard places we go through to mold us into vessels He can use for His glory. He gets no glory from what we do without Him. His name is exalted when we give up our own ways of doing and realize that to live for Him, we must allow His Spirit to flow through us in everything we do.

 

It has taken a long time for me to learn these lessons—and I’m still learning.

 

Thankfully, God doesn’t leave us in our brokenness and confusion. When we call to Him, He lovingly answers.

 

A few days after my agonizing, questioning prayer the Holy Spirit spoke to me: “I am molding you into the person I want you to be. All the realizations, the recent revelations—that’s Me. You need to see what I see in you—the good and the bad. Your life has changed. You are not the same person you were. I am molding you. Allow Me to move in your life.”

 

Father, as I continue to submit my life to You, do in me everything You want to do, so that I will be molded into a vessel that brings honor and glory to Your Name!

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The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.” Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make. (Jeremiah 18:1-4 NKJV) 

Be the Hands and Feet of Jesus

How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him (Acts 10:38 NKJV).

I love this verse. It describes in one sentence how Jesus ministered to people while He lived on the earth. He was always doing good and He healed all who were oppressed by the devil. He was willing to help everyone who crossed His path.

 

After seeing Him perform miracles, the amazed crowd said again and again, “Everything He does is wonderful” (Mark 7:37 NLT). They were in awe that not only did Jesus have the power to change people’s lives, He also desired to do it, and He followed through.

 

In recent months, the Holy Spirit has encouraged me to open my eyes and really see the individuals who cross my path. It is easy to become so focused on the routines of life that we fail to see those to whom the Lord wants us to minister. As we submit to Him, He will teach us how to reach out to people who need His touch.

 

I want to show the world my wonderful Savior. The peace and blessings I have received from Him, I want to impart to others.

If we don’t show them Jesus, who will?

Father, help us to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Help us to follow His example and truly care for those You place before us. 

I Am Not Alone

In my heart I know that I am not alone. God promised He would never leave me or forsake me. But as I walk this journey of life, with all of its tests and trials, all the anxiety that comes with being human, there are times I live as if I am alone. And seem to forget that I serve the Prince of Peace. 

I want to be sure I’m doing everything right. That I have everything covered. (As if I could really do that.) I pray and read the Word, serve others, attend church, fulfill my Christian responsibilities. But sometimes there is a feeling of disconnection—God seems distant. In those times I perceive Him as a force, rather than Someone who loves me. 

In all I do because I want to please Him, I find that I lose sight of the fact that I am in a relationship with a Person. 

This, of course, is not because God is doing anything wrong. It is a result of my own incorrect mindset. Thankfully, God is patient with me. 

Relationship requires being with the One you love. Spending time together. Communicating with each other. Learning what pleases Him and what doesn’t. 

So I’m learning. He is teaching me to slow down and take time to just sit with Him. Just sit quietly in His presence. And in doing so, sometimes I am blessed to hear Him speak to me. 

Twice this week, I have heard in my spirit the words to a song, “Weary traveler, restless soul, you were never meant to walk this road alone.”*

God sees me. He sees my struggles. He cares so much for me that He speaks to me to let me know He’s there. In essence He says, “Why are you trying to do this by yourself? I’m right here. I have always been here. Talk to Me as we walk this road together. I will be your Guide. I will be your Friend. Lean on Me.”

Father, please help me and anyone who reads this who may feel the way I do—help us to learn to be with You, to receive Your love and care for us as we walk this journey of life. 

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For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)

*Weary Traveler, Jordan St. Cyr, 2022

Where He Leads Me I Will Follow

Exodus chapter 40 tells us that the people of Israel stayed with the cloud of God’s presence. When it rested on the tabernacle they stayed there. When the cloud moved they moved with it. Wherever the presence of God was, that is where the people were. 

The children of Israel were in a wilderness—a place they had never been before. They needed God’s wisdom and His direction to get to the place He wanted them to be. 

Not only was He leading them to a particular place, He was also leading them through a process—events they needed to go through to make them stronger. They had battles to fight once they got to the promised land. There was much for them to endure on their journey so they would be ready to fight those battles. 

The same is true for us today. It is important that we stay where the presence of God is. Instead of trying to figure things out on our own, we are to wait for Him and then follow His lead when He moves. 

Sometimes we become impatient. If we fear He is not actively leading us and we are not hearing Him speak, we get anxious. We have a mindset of “I have to do something—anything.” That is when we make our worst mistakes. We must submit our will to His and wait for Him to lead. If you are in a season of waiting, He has a good reason for it. 

There are situations in which we find ourselves that we just do not know what to do next. Our Father cares and wants to help us in those times. He wants us to learn to wait and trust Him. And remember, His end goal is that we become more like Christ and that we live a life that honors Him. 

I think pride and self-sufficiency can cause us to “do our own thing.” We believe we can make decisions without His help. But I have found that I need God’s guidance for decisions large and small. 

I am like a child who doesn’t see the danger ahead, and I need Him to guide each step I take. He sees what I don’t see. He knows what is ahead, and He teaches me through the process. 

There are times He leads me in a particular direction and I find myself questioning, “Why in the world does He want me to do this? Why has He put me here?” And then once I come to the end of the situation, the reason becomes clear.

Lord, help me to not question Your wisdom, but wait for Your direction and Your timing in every circumstance of my life. I want to be only where Your presence is!

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Then the cloud covered the Tabernacle, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle… Now whenever the cloud lifted from the Tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out on their journey, following it. But if the cloud did not rise, they remained where they were until it lifted. (Exodus 40:34,36-37 NLT)

My Story (Part 2): Transformation

Recently I posted my testimony about how God delivered me from a spirit of fear. Now, I want to share more about God’s work in my life. 

As is true of all of us, my life has consisted of ups and downs, good times and bad. I became a Christian at the age of nine, and I have always believed my walk with God should define who I was and how I lived. 

At times I was on fire for God. At other times, my relationship with Him grew cold. I am not proud of this. But it is my reality. And I’m not going to pretend I have always been everything I am supposed to be. 

There were times I desired for my life to be anything other than what it was. I compared myself to others and even found myself angrily questioning God about what I considered to be my disappointing life. 

I loved God. I never turned my back on Him and walked away. My relationship with Him just wasn’t always what it should have been. 

A few years ago I was thrilled to remarry after being a widow for seven years. As was true of my first marriage, God gave me a wonderful Christian husband with whom I enjoy serving the Lord. 

But something was missing in my heart. I knew I had drifted from a deep relationship with God, but for some reason I felt unable to change. 

Two years ago, it’s like I woke up. I looked in the mirror. I realized my age, and said to myself, “If I’m ever going to live fully for God, when do I plan to do it? If not now, when? Am I just gonna ride this out until I die? Am I just going to drift into eternity? There is more to life than this!”

So I began to seek God. I immersed myself in the Word and in prayer. I told Him that I knew I was not living the fully dedicated life He wanted me to live, and that I was incapable of changing myself. I needed Him. He was the only one who could do it. I became desperate. 

I placed my life on the altar and told God I wanted to change. I confessed to Him that I did not care enough about other people, but that I wanted to care. I asked Him to give me a caring heart. 

I had gone through much of my life feeling that I was not enough and that if I died I would go to hell. I understand in my mind that it’s not what I do that gets me to heaven. It is what Jesus did. But my heart had difficulty believing. I had doubts that I was really a Christian, and I felt this way on and off for years! 

Sometime after coming to terms with the fact that I needed to change, I asked God to totally transform me. I said, “If I’m not really Your child, make me Your child. If I am Your child, I want reassurance that I am Yours!”

What did God do? He transformed my life!—In a moment my life changed! And I was set free of whatever was causing me to doubt my relationship with God. Since then I have never again feared going to hell.

Was I His child before that? I believe I was. I was being tormented by the enemy and by my own wrong thoughts. But God took me right where I was and gave me what I needed, so that I could live a victorious life!

Am I always on cloud nine? No. Life still has ups and downs. But I have a deeper relationship with God than I have ever known. And I have a calm assurance that I am in His will. I have an abiding peace and the knowledge that when I die I will be with Him!

I asked God for transformation. And I am living proof that if you ask God to change you, and you really mean it, He will do it!

This testimony is my raw reality. This is uncomfortable for me. I don’t like being this vulnerable. But I have been compelled by the Holy Spirit to share where I was and what God did for me. I refuse to let pride keep me from obeying Him. 

It is important that you know my story. Because what God did for me He will also do for you! He cares for you! 

No matter where you are in your walk with God—or even if you haven’t started walking with Him yet—He loves you. He wants to have a personal relationship with you! He wants you to be with Him for all eternity. That’s how much He loves you!

Jesus came to this earth to die a cruel death on the cross to obtain our salvation. He was resurrected from death on the third day so that we could have eternal life. And now He is in heaven where He lives to intercede for us. 

Jesus gave it all for us. And now we need to give our all for Him!

If you don’t know Jesus, call on Him today! He wants to hear from you! He wants to transform your life! His desire is for you to live with Him for all eternity!

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For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. (Romans 10:13 NLT)

… anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT)

Invitation to Discipleship

... "Come be my disciple," Jesus said... (Mark 2:14)

What is meant by, “Be my disciple”? What does Jesus want us to do? 

He is saying, “Follow Me. Walk with Me. Listen to Me. Learn from Me. Do what you see Me do.”

Jesus didn’t say, “Go sit on a church pew.” In itself there is nothing wrong with being on a church pew. In church we can hear God’s Word expounded and we can be encouraged in our Christian walk. But there is more to being a disciple of Christ than that. Discipleship involves taking what we have learned with us as we leave the church building, so that we can minister to others. 

We tend to live far from the way Jesus lived. He “went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil.” He wants us to do the same!

Sometimes we get so concerned with our own lives—our own problems, needs and desires—that we forget He wants us to live selflessly, as He did. We are meant to reach out to others with the good news of Christ’s love and forgiveness!

I am so impressed by the fact that those whom Jesus called immediately left what they were doing and followed Him. There was something compelling about Him that caused them to forsake what had previously held their interest so they could wholeheartedly follow Him! 

It seems to me that if we will listen for the voice of Jesus and desire to know Him as He truly is, we will be compelled to forsake all and follow Him with complete devotion. And in doing so we will learn how to care for others and minister to their needs!

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How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” (Acts 10:38)

Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him. (Matthew 4:19-20)