Abundantly Pardoned

I’ve been reading a wonderful book by Andrea Jones Mullins called "Intentional Living." On page 120 a statement literally leaped off the page at me. The author is talking about crossing cultural, religious, social, political and racial barriers to share Jesus, and the statement says, "…if we are not a part of the solution, then we are a part of the problem." What a truthful slap in the face! What a way to say, "Get off your tookus, and do something instead of complaining about it." At the end of that particular chapter she gives the scripture from Luke 14:15-24: the man who had a big banquet and invited his rich friends, but no one would come. He then told his servant to go out into the streets and alleys and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. The author of book then wrote, "The Lord has left us in charge of the banquet.. Who will be seated at our table and what barriers will we cross to intentionally love with God’s heart?" Dear sisters, it’s true! Jesus has left us in charge of the banquet until He returns. Who are we going to invite to sit at the table? Are we going to disappoint our dear Lord and Savior?

In our WMU yearbook there’s a statement that I love: "Vow to live your faith openly and actively in a sin-filled world, and stick to it." There is no place in the Kingdom of God for wishy-washy Christians. Either you’re fully devoted to our Lord Jesus Christ or you’re not which means either you’re a Christian or you’re not. For years I was a wishy-washy Christian with no devotion or relationship with Jesus Christ. I now wonder if I was really a Christian at all. Even when one person said to me, "If you’re afraid of dying, then you’re not a Christian" and another exclaimed, "I didn’t know you were a Christian" I still did not seek to have a relationship with my Lord Jesus. One day He spiritually circumcised my heart, and I fully gave it to Him. You see, no one had ever bothered to discuss with me what Jesus went through for me. No one bothered to tell me how He had been bound like an animal, spit on, beaten, mocked and nailed to a cross. To me it was just another history lesson out of time. I now love my Jesus with all my heart, soul, mind and spirit. Everyday is a struggle to be the best Christian I can be for Him, but I made a vow to be that Christian. In this crazy, sin-filled, "me, me, me" world, it’s too easy to be a wishy-washy Christian. That is why we each need to make our own personal vow to our Lord Jesus. He will then give us the strength to fight against our sinful natures each day. Are you a wishy-washy Christian? Not if you truly love Jesus and live for Him. "What I have vowed I will make good." (Jonah 2:9 NIV)

"He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds." (Titus 2:14 NLT) "I am not worthy of all the unfailing love and faithfulness You have shown to me, your servant." (Genesis 32:10 NLT) No, I’m truly not worthy, and I tell Him that everyday. He believes I’m worthy. I don’t know why He believes it, but I’m sure glad He does! Oh, hallelujah, dear sisters, that we have a loving, forgiving Savior! Jesus Christ is truly King of kings and Lord of lords. Stop for awhile each day, meditating upon what He did for you, and then give Him all your thanks and all your love. "For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3:16) Praises to our Lord God Almighty who has truly set us free!

^{Dear sisters, I’m sure you’ll shudder when you hear this story. I was awakened in the wee hours of the morning and decided to sit in bed and read myself back asleep. I saw something move on the right side of my bedspread. Low and behold, it was one of the spiders from the movie "Raiders of the Lost Ark!" This particular fellow was definitely far from his jungles, and he proved to me that my reflexes are quite good for my age. After a gasp followed by pounding the fellow with my journal, I had settled back to read again when I noticed a spider half the former’s size up on the ceiling over the bedroom curtains. I tried to smack this one with a "Family Christian" store catalog, but he fell behind the curtain. Needless to say, I slept with a small lamp on and with the bedspread pulled way up on the bed (after convincing myself that the second spider wouldn’t climb the legs of the bed and feast on my flesh. Oh, but how much this incident reminded me of Satan. He’s always lurking in the shadows, always trying to frighten us, always trying to attack us. We are constantly swatting him away by attempting to ignore him. Ladies, that will not work. We must put on the armor of God and pray for our Lord to go into battle with us. We must take the Word and pound Satan with it until he shrivels up into a little ball like that spider. The battle with Satan continues daily, and we must stay deep in prayer and deep in the Word at all times if we are to defeat him. Do not allow Satan to lurk in the shadows of your life. Turn on the light that is our Lord Jesus Christ. He will prevail! "’Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.’" "’You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions, stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you…. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you.’" (2 Chronicles 20:15 and 17 NIV)}

Luke chapter 7 contains the scripture "Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman", and I absolutely love that scripture. She couldn’t have hidden her love for Jesus if you had tied her up and pitched her in the corner behind a screen. All the Pharisee could see was a sinner. Jesus could see her heart. Here was a woman "who had lived a sinful life in that town." In other words, everyone knew her, and they knew what she did. Nobody wanted to have anything to do with her. When groups of women passed her on the streets, they probably turned their backs on her and crossed over to the other side. Who is this woman? She is the woman down at the bar. She is the woman who tempted somebody’s husband. She is the woman who has fallen over and over and can't seems to find her way out of that pit of sin. She is the woman who doesn’t know any better, because she is neck deep in sin and no one is bothering to lead her to Christ. She is the woman who found out about the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ from someone who cared enough to tell her. She is the woman who is so grateful, so thankful, so ashamed of what she has done, she can’t help weeping and kissing the feet of Jesus. She can’t help pouring expensive perfume on his feet. Yes, she probably acquired that expensive perfume with her prior sinful ways, but she has made it into a sweet sacrifice through her loving, grateful offering to Jesus Christ. "Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven---for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven loves little." Oh, precious Jesus, thank You for Your love! Thank You for Your saving grace! May we find ways to anoint Your feet everyday!

I’ve known the 23^{rd Psalm by heart ever since I was a little girl, and I always thought verse 4 ("Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me." NIV) was about physical death. After having just gone through a several-week battle with Satan, I found out otherwise. After a triumphant battle with the Lord having led the way, I prayed that He would protect me from any of Satan’s future attacks. The thought of going through another one frightened me. That is when verse 4 came into clarity for me. We don’t have to be afraid when we’re going through the valley of Satan’s attacks where physical death looms to one side and eternal life rises on the other. Our Lord God Almighty will be with us, leading the way through the darkness of the valley so that we can defeat Satan and reach eternal life, amen!}

I read a set of 6 devotions somebody wrote on making prayer a daily habit. Excuse me?? A habit?? Like coffee, cigarettes, snorting cocaine or chewing your fingernails?? Dear sisters, if we’re in a fullblown relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ, prayer should be a way of life and like breathing to us, not like channel-surfing or evening beers. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 tells us to be joyful at all times and pray constantly. Well, amen on that one, because if we pray constantly we’ll definitely be joyful. The writer even went into that thing that always gets my hackles up: scheduling time in your appointment book to pray. EEEEEEEEEK!!! If our Lord God Almighty is #1 in our lives, we won’t have to schedule time to pray. I made the mistake of one time scheduling prayer, and I’ve felt terrible about it ever since. We should never, ever be too busy for our Lord. We should never, ever slack off on praying so much that we have to resort to turning prayer into a "habit."