The Letter

As I do most mornings, I opened my Bible while eating my breakfast. There is just something about a big green smoothie with a dash of Jesus that sets my day. Today I am in Isaiah 37.

The king has received a letter proclaiming his nation's impending demise from an army known for it's brutality and war-time success.

 

What the king does next is what speaks most to my heart.

 

He does not call an emergency session.

He does not demand strategies from his top warriors.

He does not surround himself with his Heads of State giving him council.

 

He went to God and spread the letter in front of Him.

He took that piece of paper and laid it in front of God.

 

All the words telling him exactly what would be done to him and in which he had no reason to doubt. He knew what that army had done to other nations.

He laid it out in front of God.

And then he prayed.

 

What's your letter my friend?

What do you need to bring to God?

What worry or stress or decision needs to be laid on the altar in front of God?

 

Follow King Hezekiah's lead.

 

Lay the burden on the altar and pray.

And just like the king, begin your prayer telling God of who He is.

This isn't because God needs reminding.

 

We do.

 

Telling God how great He is, places our burden where it should be - at the feet of a very big God.

 

May we all remember our King already conquered what it is we lay on that altar.

With 3 nails and an empty tomb He destroyed our letter.

And He stands victorious.

 

Today, give Him your letter.

 

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Isaiah 37:14-20

Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying, “Lord of armies, God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made heaven and earth. Incline Your ear, Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, Lord, and see; and listen to all the words of Sennacherib, who sent them to taunt the living God. Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the countries and their lands, and have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but only the work of human hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. But now Lord, our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, Lord, are God.”

 

Ashes

I sat in the raw that day.
A phone call of unrehearsed, unprepared and unspoken real.
Where your mind searches for answers and you know there are no answers to give.
You listen and you sit in their now.
You listen and feel every turn of the stomach.
You listen and feel every streak of the tear.

"Give me the words God, give me the words." played on repeat in my mind.

His voice was clear, "You know the story to tell."
"No God.  I don't like that story."

"Tell it.  There's a reason it was your phone that rang."
"But God...."
"There is a reason those chapters in your story happened.  I make beauty from ashes, remember?  While you can't see the colorful beauty in it, I can.  Offer your ashes."

We often don't the 'why' of what we face.
We do know that God works all things to good if we love Him.

You may be in the thick of the muck and the mire.
You may be barely keeping your head above the quicksand sucking you down.
Or maybe your story has more miles in the rear-view mirror than you ever want to talk about.
Because you'd rather not talk about it thankyouverymuch.

Your chapter - your story - your ashes, hold beauty.
Even if the story is still being written, there is buried beauty that will emerge.

Offer your ashes.

Even if you can't see how a pile of ashes can be anything but dusty, offer your ashes.
You aren't the artist.
God is.

See what beauty rises.
For He makes all things beautiful.
He makes all things new.

Two Men and A Tomb

Two men stood at the body of Jesus.

Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea.

They took a risk to be there.

Both were members of the Sanhedrin; the very group which orchestrated Jesus' arrest, trial, beating, and stirred the emotion of the crowd to yell, "Crucify Him". Both men feared the power of the Sanhedrin if they were to be seen with Jesus.

Even when Jesus was dead.

Yet here they are risking it all. Joseph asked Pilate for Jesus' body, which Pilate granted. He took the body to a tomb where Nicodemus came with myrrh.

Sometime previous, Nicodemus had come to Jesus. In the dark of night, so as not to be seen, he asked Jesus what he needed to do to be saved. Jesus' answered him to sell all he owned.

Because Jesus knew.

Jesus knew Nicodemus loved his wealth.

It was his stumbling block and Jesus has a way of removing stumbling blocks.

Nicodemus walks away sad as he was a man of great wealth.

But something changed in Nicodemus that day and it's evidence is here as he is risking it all to be at the broken, beaten, dead body of Jesus.

And He comes with myrrh to bury Jesus.

Nicodemus comes fulfilling the very prophecy presented by the Wise Men as a gift at Jesus' birth.

Joseph and Nicodemus. Two powerful and wealthy men, too afraid to be seen with Jesus, are the last two people to witness Jesus' dead body.

They touched it.

They covered it in myrrh.

They wrapped it in linen and sealed it in a tomb.

The Sanhedrin would stop at nothing to discredit Jesus' resurrection.  And now two of their own become the strongest witnesses to it.

Isn't that just like Jesus?

He has a way of taking the most unlikely of people and giving them a front row seat to His greatness.

He took their fear and turned it into a fire to fuel their faith.

And He still does.

Friend, Jesus will take your Unlikely and fan the flames of your faith with it.

When your Unlikely overwhelms you, Jesus takes it to the cross and makes something powerful with it.

Your fear doesn't stop Him.
He has bigger plans for you.

Even if the only place you meet Him is in the darkness of night.

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John 19:38-42

Now after these things Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear of the Jews, requested of Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate granted permission. So he came and took away His body. Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred litras weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden was a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. Therefore because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

 

In The Garden

Ever have one of those mornings in which nothing goes right?
Today was one of those mornings.

While brushing my teeth, I tripped - on what  I have no idea - and my knee smacked the open vanity door causing it to hit the bathroom door jamb.  The glass nob of the vanity door broke.  

I sigh.  I pick it up.
I slice my finger open.

It's been 2 minutes.  I've been up for 2 minutes.
The rest of the morning wasn't too much better.

By the time I sat down to have my breakfast I felt the day already won and I hadn't even left the house yet.  I open my Bible; John 17 is the passage I'm to read today.

Jesus is praying.  He prays for Himself as He knows the crucifixion is coming, He prays for the disciples in front of Him, and He prays for all believers.

As He faced His imminent death, Jesus prayed for us...He prayed for me. 

After praying this prayer in John 17, Jesus leaves for the Garden of Gethsemane where He would begin to make right what happened in the Garden of Eden.

Contemplating this wonder, I look up and see the gardens outside my window.

Jesus and the story of 2 gardens.  One perfect in beauty marred now by sin and death; the other watered by the dusty tears of the One who's death would soon bring beauty.

I begin to think of my own garden.  The one no one can see except Jesus.  When was the last time I even weeded?  I sure felt the pruning.

Friends, maybe right now your garden is lush with the life of summer.
He prayed for you.

Maybe your garden is nothing more than the leafless, barren sticks protruding from the frozen soil of winter.
He prayed for you.

He prayed knowing the winter garden becomes spring's hope and knowing the lush garden of summer would soon give to the harshness of winter.

No matter what your garden looks like, He knows the season you're in.

And He prayed for you.

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John 17: 13 - 16 But now I am coming to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.  I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I am not asking You to take them out of the world, but to keep them away from  the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

 

A Winter's Walk

Sun was streaming through my window.  I lace up my boots and head outdoors.  I don't remember the last time we had blue sky without the bitter north-east winds.  

The sun feels good on my face. 

I decide to take a walk.

Snow still blankets the yards.  The sun causes melting snow to drip off roofs.  I hear birds chirp. 

We are all ready for spring.  Winter has been brutal.

Walking past a field, I notice a tree in it's midst. 
I am struck by it's stark grandeur as it stands alone. 
It's branches barren with snow at it's roots.

God tapped me on the shoulder and said, "The tree looks dead, doesn't it?  It is not.  The tree is very much alive.  If you could only see the life it holds inside then you would know spring's leaves are always there.  Fruit comes in it's own season.  And so will yours."

 

Be encouraged my friends.  Be encouraged.