"When People Meet Jesus, Anything can Happen"

The title of this post were the words of my friend and pastor Sunday.

Do you believe them?  I do.  I really do.

Many things have happened to me since I first met Jesus.  However, most of them took root when I truly surrendered to Him and began to desire His actual lordship in my life.  Meeting Him and submitting to His lordship are not the same, the scripture makes that clear. 

 I would like to share some of the things I have experienced as a result of knowing the very Son of the Living God, and the Living God Himself.

Freedom:
Galatians 5:1  It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.
Many people all over the world live in bondage: primarily to sin, but also to their past, to their government, to other religions, to persecution, to ignorance, to guilt, to self-indulgence, to lies, to fear and to many more things that Satan, the enemy, presses down on them.
BUT...In Christ one is freed, forever.  All things that bind a person are loosed at the cross.
Because when you meet Jesus, anything can happen.

Healing:
Psalm 147:3  He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
Hosea 14:4 I will heal their apostasy, I will love them freely, for My anger has turned away from them.
Life hurts.  People hurt you.  Many times I hurt myself.  I make stupid decisions based on prideful intentions and I end up with a brokenness that only Christ can mend.
Apostasy means a total desertion from one's religion, principles, or cause.  Those prideful moments are moments of apostasy when all my wits exit my head and all I know to be truth is hazed in a fog of self gratification.  And what does my Savior do?  Well He heals me.  He binds my wounds, turns His justified anger from me and loves me through it.
Because when you meet Jesus, anything can happen.

Obedience:
Romans 6:17-18  But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
There are times I want to flesh out my anger.  There are times I want to quit.  There are times I don't want to ask God what He thinks, I just want to do it my way.  I don't want to wait.  I don't want to accept that role or that responsibility.  I want to say what I want no matter who it hurts.  I want to do what I want no matter the foolishness in it.  I don't always want to see what scripture says, I just want to do it the way everyone else does.  But their way is not righteousness.  And their way is not freedom.  And God's Spirit within me beckons me to the pursuit of Him and so I choose Him.
Because when you meet Jesus anything can happen.

Sight:
Psalm 66:5  Come and see the works of God, Who is awesome in His deeds toward the sons of men.
Yes, you can see God when you have met Jesus.  I saw Him in my garden this morning.  And I saw Him in my son tonight.  I see Him often in the sky.  This weekend I will see Him in the mountains.
Because when you meet Jesus anything can happen.

Hearing:
John 10:27  My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
A relationship with Christ is unlike any other religion in the world.  People talk to their gods but their gods don't talk back.  Christ lives within me.  His Spirit guides me in every way I seek guidance.  You just have to pay attention :).  I hear Him and it enables me to follow Him.
Because when you meet Jesus anything can happen.

Wisdom and Understanding:
Psalm 111:10  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments.
Obedience pays in dividends of understanding the Creator of all things.  Its His gift to His children.
When you meet Jesus.......well......I hope you are getting the picture :)

Authority:
Luke 10:19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you.
Jesus means authority, power, and protection in your life.

Adequacy:
2 Corinthians 3:5  Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.
Jesus means you are complete.


Strength and Power
Isaiah 40:29  He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power.
Jesus means you are strong and can endure.

Renewal:
Colossians 3:10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowlede according to the image of the One who created him.
When you meet Jesus, you will meet a new you and you will discover the new you everytime you seek Him, everytime you obey Him, everytime you hear Him, and see Him and then suddenly you will realize He has renewed you!!

Redemption:
Ephesians 1:7  In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.
Sin has left you abandoned, and death is at your door.....until Jesus, your Redeemer met you at the cross.
Even death is conquered when you meet Jesus.

Hope:
Psalm 39:7  And now, Lord, for what do I wait?  My hope is in You.
And His hope does not disappoint.

Peace:
Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
This world offers you chaos.  Christ instills peace.  With Him anything is possible.

Courage:
2 Chronicles 15:7  But you, be strong and do not lose courage, for there is reward for your work.
And waiting for you at the end of the road is the most glorious place you could ever even begin to fathom.  We call it heaven.  The Bible refers to it as the most Holy of Holies, God's dwelling place.  And if you have met Jesus, you will be living there.

When people meet Jesus, anything can happen.

I hope you believe this too!

Reading by Candlelight

I really love my husband.  He does special things for me no matter how quirky they are or how old fashioned they seem.  Raising chickens is one example, which is going very well by the way but that's another post for another day.  Tending to my desire to read by candlelight is another.

I LOVE to read.  If I could have something radically different done to my home it would be to have my own library.  I mean a whole room, wall to wall, floor to ceiling, all books.  Oh my gosh, my heart skips a beat just imagining it.  I would want all things scripture from the beginnings of time (but no paraphrased Bibles please).  I would love some scrolls of sorts.  I would love all things C. S. Lewis, all missionary biographies, world History (from a biblical worldview), Ballantyne Novels, works of Francine Rivers, Francis Chan, KP Yohannan, Kay Arthur, David Platt, Jane Austen, John Piper, etc., etc., etc.

I really like to read in bed just before going to sleep.  It settles my soul.  But, it keeps my babe up at night because the lamp is just to bright.  So I thought about getting one of those lamps you can put on the wall like in old fashioned tv shows where each spouse would turn off their personal light when they were ready.  But what's cool about that?  Nothing.  So I thought, because I'm quirky, that it would be cool to have a candle to read by.

This might be a good place to inform those of you who don't already know this about me that I was really meant to live in a totally different era.  The era like the one in my favorite movie Pride and Prejudice where everything is done by candlelight and there are chickens running around the yard and everyone sits together around the table for a huge meal at breakfast.  Yeah, somehow I missed it by a few hundred years, durn it!

Anyway, back to my lighting dilemma.  So my incredible husband made me a candle shelf today.  And now I can read by candlelight!

Isn't it marvelous!!  I love him!

Radical

That word stirs something in me.  It's an extreme word, don't you think?  If not, clearly you haven't read the book that carries its namesake.  David Platt does an amazing job of painting a picture of radical living as a follower of Christ.  He makes statements such as "settling for a Christianity that revolves around catering to ourselves when the central message of Christianity is actually about abandoning ourselves" and "We want Him so much that we abandon everything else to experience Him".

Those are only two of about 100 or more statements Platt wrote in his book that pierced straight through my heart. 

I can see that God has led me to make what the world would call radical choices for some time now.  I didn't always understand myself, why I made those choices, I just knew I was suppose to.  Sounds ridiculous doesn't it?  But, now I can see that God has been preparing me for His work.  He has been molding me and setting my life up in a way that would support His call on my life.  There is still much to do, many ways I need to be molded into a usable vessel, but He's doing it, and I'm grateful to be in His hands.

The most radical event of all history is the story of Christ.  Here's a taste of it from Philippians 2:6-8:

Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men.  Being found in appearance as man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Being equal with God, yet emptying yourself for mankind for the sake of taking on death in man's place is about as radical as you can get!

Christ radically redeemed me.  Now it's my turn to live radically for Him.

I wrote this for those who know me personally and will hopefully see radical differences in me in the future and that you will accept a radical nature in me as I follow a radical God.  I hope you have already seen that my life does not follow the pattern of this world.  And I hope you will join me :).